Bobbling slightly at the break, Rachel Alexandra quickly recovered and
Approaching the quarter pole, Borel asked the filly for
Her time was just a few ticks off the track record of 1:46 4/5 set by
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“This filly is just unbelievable,” Borel said. “I can’t say how good she is.
I don’t know. I gave her a few taps at the sixteenth pole. I just wanted to keep
her focused with a couple taps. She started looking around at the crowd, so I
just kept her busy to the wire.”
“I felt very confident that she would be able to handle the surface today,”
trainer Steve Asmussen said. “The Haskell was our major goal, and we were happy
with the way she ran today.
“I can’t tell you how amazing it is that everybody everywhere asks me about
Rachel,” Asmussen continued. “I think it’s fantastic, and Rachel is very
deserving of the admiration.”
Tim Ice, trainer of Summer Bird, said he was proud of his horse’s effort.
“He was going real comfortable throughout,” Ice said. “I’m very proud of how
“But that was Rachel Alexandra. That’s what everyone came to see.”
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“I might have taken my horse out of his game today,” Summer Bird’s rider Kent
Desormeaux said. “I rode the racetrack thinking it was important to have enough
speed to be close. He showed me a very good turn of foot and put me right in the
catbird seat.
“Take Rachel Alexandra out of there, and we’re the winner,” Desormeaux said.
“He showed me a great deal of will and guts to hang in there and hold second.”
The overwhelming 1-2 favorite, Rachel Alexandra paid $3, $2.20 and $2.10.
Summer Bird was good for $3.40 and $2.60, while Munnings gave back $3.20. The
exacta was $10.40, the trifecta $24.60, and the 6-2-4-3 superfecta with Papa
Clem was worth $64.80.
Rachel Alexandra joined champion Serena’s Song (1995) as the only fillies to
win the Haskell Invitational. She has now won 10 races, eight of those in
succession, and pushed her earnings to $2,498,354 to go along with her 13-10-2-0
career line. Her only off-the-board run came in her career debut at Churchill
Downs in 2008, but she immediately followed that up with a 1 1/4-length maiden
special weight score under the Twin Spires. Second in the Debutante S. (G3) in
her black-type bow, the bay lass next up tried Keeneland’s Polytrack and
recorded a three-length allowance victory. She returned to Churchill to finish
out her juvenile campaign, recording a second in the Pocahontas S. (G3) and
beginning her current win streak with a 4 3/4-length score in the Golden Rod S.
(G2).
That latter race appeared to be a turning point for the filly. She made her
three-year-old debut in the Martha Washington S. at Oaklawn Park, running clear
by eight lengths on the wire, and continued on to school her rivals in the Fair
Grounds Oaks (G2) and Fantasy S. (G2). Rachel Alexandra was a standout in the
Kentucky Oaks (G1), taking over in the stretch and drawing off to a record 20
1/4-length win in that prestigious event, which would turn out to be her last
start under the expert tutelage of trainer Hal Wiggins.
Instead, Jackson entered his new star against the boys in the Preakness S.
“To compare her three races from the Preakness to the Mother Goose to today,
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The Kentucky-bred Rachel Alexandra is the first foal out of the
stakes-winning and Grade 2-placed Lotta Kim (Roar), who has also produced an
unraced juvenile colt by Empire Maker named Empire Ruler. Lotta Kim is a
half-sister to 2001 Pocahontas S. winner Lotta Rhythm (Rhythm), who was third in
that same year’s Golden Rod, as well as last year’s Tejano Run S. victor High
Blues (High Yield). Also included in the female family is 1991 Miss Preakness S.
heroine Missy’s Music (Travelling Music) and Grade 3 winner Devil Diamond
(Devil’s Bag).