LADIES’ CLASSIC DIARY
OCTOBER 8, 2010
Some major changes have taken place in the distaff division since the last
Diary, and yet everything remains the same. I am, of course, talking about the
retirement of Horse of the Year RACHEL ALEXANDRA as well as the plans for
ZENYATTA (Street Cry [Ire]) to defend her title in the Breeders’ Cup
Classic (G1). While the former shakes things up a bit, everyone has known where
Zenyatta was going, even if no formal announcement was ever made about her race
schedule.
Division leader: For anyone who hasn’t figured it out yet, I keep
calling this section “Division leader” due to the fact that Zenyatta is a
shoe-in for champion older female honors for a third straight year. Her chances
for Horse of the Year accolades are nearly as good. We’re just not going to see
her running in the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic (G1) on November 5, that’s all.
Technically, Zenyatta’s races should be covered in my esteemed colleague’s
Classic Diary, but I’ve refused to yield rights on the star mare. Therefore, her
final preps for the Classic on Championship Saturday will be detailed below,
insomuch as they need detailing.
The John Shirreffs trainee offered up a scintillating run to take her third
straight Clement L. Hirsch S. (G1) on August 7 at Del Mar. And by scintillating
I mean her second closest finish to date. Appropriately, that other close run
also came in the Hirsch last year when Zenyatta rallied for a head score over
Anabaa’s Creation (Ire). This time around, the six-year-old was challenged by
RINTERVAL (Ire) (Desert Prince [Ire]), who led at every call except for the
last one. The pacesetter appeared ready to fade as Zenyatta ranged up on her
outside, but re-rallied and made Zenyatta fans everywhere hold their collective
breaths. The massive mare took command strides from the wire, though, and held a
neck advantage on the wire.
Next up on Zenyatta’s schedule was the October 2 Lady’s Secret S. (G1) at the
Oak Tree meet, which this year was run at her home track of Hollywood Park
instead of cross town at Santa Anita. It’s funny to note that the name of the
race was changed to the Zenyatta S. over the winter when the mare was retired.
Upon her return to racing, and once Shirreffs indicated she was pointing for
that race, Oak Tree officials obligingly switched the name back until Zenyatta
stops competing in the race. There’s no point in actually describing her run;
suffice to say she was a half-length in front of Switch (Quiet American) in the
end. Switch, who was facing her elders for the first time, gave it a good try
but the sophomore lass fell, as all have, to the dark bay goliath.
It’s on to the Classic now for Zenyatta, where she’ll face off against the
boys for only the second time in her career. She was able to run away with last
year’s event over the synthetic Pro-Ride, with her closest finishers being a
pair of champion turf runners in Gio Ponti (Tale of the Cat) and Twice Over (GB)
(Observatory). The best the dirt challengers could muster was a fourth, provided
by the now retired Summer Bird. That’s the biggest mark on Zenyatta’s career, in
my opinion. Yes, she dominated the Apple Blossom S. (G1) on the dirt at Oaklawn
Park, but I want to see her do it against a Grade 1-caliber male rivals now.
If Zenyatta comes up with the win under the Twin Spires, move over
Secretariat. There’s a new “Super Horse” in town.
Rachel’s retirement: All I can say on this subject is, “Huh?” Really,
that should just about cover it, but I’ll explain a bit more.
I’ve never understood Team Rachel’s strategy this year, but her retirement
right after working three straight bullets has this conspiracy buff coming up
with all kinds of theories. I’ll spare you the more outlandish ones (alien
abduction comes into it), and just state that all year trainer Steve Asmussen
and co-owner Jess Jackson have tossed her into spots willy nilly, or at least it
seemed so to me. This was not a campaign of a reigning Horse of the Year,
starting all the way back with the New Orleans Ladies S. when her connections
even admitted she wasn’t truly ready. However, Rachel stepped up to face each
challenge, winning two and running second in three while gradually getting
herself back into condition.
Rachel Alexandra took a few races to morph into the great filly we came to
know and love last year. Her two-year-old campaign was merely a steppingstone to
her sophomore triumphs as she was never taken out of training during the winter
between the two. She entered 2009 cranked and ready to go. Following that
grueling season, though, it was only logical to give her some time. The main
issue is that when it came time to get Rachel back into serious training, the
weather at Fair Grounds proved uncooperative. What Asmussen should have done was
ship her out of there, down to Florida probably, so weather delays wouldn’t
affect her schedule. Instead, she was left in New Orleans, getting in works when
she could.
I was down on Rachel entering the Personal Ensign S. (G1) — I absolutely
admit that. But she proved to me in the race that she was finally finding her
racing legs again. After dueling throughout that August 29 Saratoga event with
top mare LIFE AT TEN (Malibu Moon), Rachel put that one away and appeared
ready to score. However, it was the 10-furlong distance that truly beat her that
day, not winner PERSISTENTLY (Smoke Glacken). She visibly shortened
stride in the stretch, allowing Persistently, a filly bred top and bottom for 1
1/4 miles, to pass her for the length victory.
Rachel came out of that race to record moves in 1:00 3/5, 1:12 and :48 2/5 in
weekly intervals. She was gearing up for a likely run in the Beldame S. (G1) on
October 2 at Belmont Park, where she would have faced Life at Ten once again,
and seemed more than ready. Instead, one day after her half-mile drill, Jackson
released a statement announcing her retirement, saying, “Rachel Alexandra owes
us nothing.”
That is true — she doesn’t owe us or anybody else anything. Jackson is the
one who owes an explanation as to why, now of all times, they decided to put an
end to her career.
Next up after the Beldame would have been the Ladies’ Classic, contested at
her favorite track of Churchill Downs as well as at her preferred distance of
nine furlongs. Rachel appeared to be returning to form at just the right time
for a Breeders’ Cup run. True, her chances for an Eclipse Award this year were
pretty much zero, but it would have been fitting to see her go out a winner.
Instead, we’re left wondering what truly happened to a filly who accomplished
what no other sophomore miss has managed to do ever.
Ladies’ Classic leader: Now that I’m done venting about Rachel
Alexandra, let’s get back to Diary mode. Life at Ten’s distant third in the
Personal Ensign broke a six-race win streak that included the Ogden Phipps H.
(G1), Delaware H. (G2) and multiple century-topping BRIS Speed ratings. With
Rachel out of the Beldame, the Todd Pletcher runner dominated a field of five at
Belmont.
Life at Ten settled into third as Queen Martha (Rahy) did all the running on
the front end. UNRIVALED BELLE (Unbridled’s Song) followed in second and
proved to be the most stubborn once Life at Ten had taken command. The pair
dueled for a brief time in the stretch, but Life at Ten was much the best and
drew off to score by two lengths on the wire, garnering a nice 106 Speed number.
Unrivaled Belle had 6 3/4 lengths to spare over Persistently, who passed a
tiring Queen Martha and Miss Match (Arg) (Indygo Shiner) to be third.
The Beldame marked Life at Ten’s sixth race this year and her fifth win. The
five-year-old chestnut is now headed to the Ladies’ Classic, where she could
face both Unrivaled Belle and Persistently yet again. At this point, Life at Ten
is tops among the older runners in the race, but there are a couple of stellar
sophomores who could spoil her Breeders’ Cup aspirations.
Three to watch: BLIND LUCK (Pollard’s Vision) and HAVRE DE
GRACE (Saint Liam) began a rivalry in the Delaware Oaks (G2) that will
continue right into the Ladies’ Classic. Blind Luck has been dubbed Baby Z by
some because of her heart-stopping, come-from-behind runs. However, unlike
Zenyatta, the chestnut lass has not been able to get to the wire first every
time and owns a 14-9-3-2 career record.
Blind Luck has shown a tendency to post very close finishes, as evidenced by
her nose win in the Delaware Oaks. Havre de Grace was looking for revenge
following that defeat and showed up to face Blind Luck once again in the Alabama
S. (G1) on August 21. She nearly got it, too, but her chestnut rival came
running late to prove best by only a neck.
It proved to be a different story in the October 2 Cotillion S. (G2) at the
track formerly known as Philadelphia Park. Havre de Grace stalked close to the
pace while Blind Luck settled into last. Both were expected occurrences, as was
Havre de Grace taking over in the stretch with Blind Luck closing fast. However,
it was a case of too little, too late this time around as the leading sophomore
filly ran out of room and wound up a neck short on the wire. Havre de Grace
finally managed to turn the tables, albeit while getting 10 pounds from her
rival, and the bay miss could make a case for
herself in the Breeders’ Cup for championship honors if she drubs her rival.
Regardless, these two will make the Ladies’ Classic exciting if only to see
who comes out best in the end.
The third filly to watch is also a sophomore. ALWAYS A PRINCESS
(Leroidesanimaux [Brz]) is not a definite for the Breeders’ Cup but deserves her
shot following a 3 1/4-length wire job in the Indiana Oaks (G2) on October 2.
That was only the second start of the year for the Bob Baffert runner, who last
season finished fifth by just 1 3/4 lengths in the Juvenile Fillies (G1) and
second in the Oak Leaf S. (G1). The
lightly raced chestnut emphatically answered the dirt question in the Indiana
Oaks after spending her four career starts on synthetic tracks, and earned a
nice 105 Speed rating for her effort.
Let’s not forget: MALIBU PRAYER (Malibu Moon) was sent off the
heavy favorite in the Molly Pitcher S. (G2) on August 29 following a game
wire-to-wire victory in the August 1 Ruffian Invitational S. (G1). It wasn’t her
day, though, as Just Jenda closed out her career on a winning note with a 3
1/2-length score. Malibu Prayer was no match for the Monmouth-loving Just Jenda,
but could still show up for her shot at Breeders’ Cup glory.
The same goes for NO SUCH WORD (Canadian Frontier), who is from the
same Cindy Jones barn as Just Jenda. The bay lass’ worse finish this year came
as a fourth in the Delaware Oaks, but she captured the Honeybee S. (G3) and
placed in both the Fantasy S. (G2) and Black-Eyed Susan S. (G2) earlier in the
year. She finally returned to the winner’s circle with a neck tally in the Go
for Wand S. at Delaware Park, and followed her Delaware Oaks run with a victory
in the August 14 Monmouth Oaks (G3). The three-year-old kicked clear in the
stretch of that 8 1/2-furlong test, and has posted impressive enough Speed
numbers (111, 101) from her past pair to be considered a legitimate Ladies’
Classic runner.
If her connections decide to send her to the Breeders’ Cup, No Such Word
will get her final tune-up when starting in Sunday’s $200,000 Remington Park
Oaks at 8 1/2 furlongs.
Last chance Spinster: Sunday’s Spinster S. (G1) is the final major
prep for the Ladies’ Classic and has drawn a competitive group of 11 runners. Of
those, IT’S TEA TIME (Dynaformer), FUNNY MOON (Malibu Moon),
ZARDANA (Brz) (Crimson Tide) and Rinterval could all run under the
lights at Churchill on November 5 with a good enough effort on Sunday. The 1
1/8-mile Spinster is run on Keeneland’s Polytrack, which means there’s also some
turf distaffers and synthetic specialists in the race.
It’s Tea Time has proven her ability on all three surfaces, starting at the
Lexington, Kentucky, venue in April when a neck second in the Ashland S. (G1).
She pulled out a half-length victory against turf allowance rivals at Saratoga
in August, then returned 21 days later to take the off-the-turf Lake Placid S.
(G3) on a sloppy, sealed track. Zardana is similar in that she’s won stakes on
all three types of track. The bay six-year-old will give trainer Shirreffs a
shot at sweeping both the Classic and Ladies’ Classic in back-to-back years if she
goes in the girls event. She already captured the New Orleans Ladies over Rachel
Alexandra in March, and has also won last year’s Bayakoa H. (G2) on the
synthetic Cushion Track as well as a the Swingtime S. and Osunitas H., both on
turf.
Rinterval is the synthetic specialist of the group. If the five-year-old
chestnut shows the same kind of courage that saw her run a head second to sprint
champion Informed Decision (Monarchos) in the Chicago H. (G3) and a neck behind
Zenyatta in the Hirsch, the Spinster should prove to be the perfect
steppingstone to Breeders’ Cup day.
Funny Moon ran well in her only try at Keeneland, finishing second in the
Doubledogdare S. (G3) in April, but is strictly speaking a dirt horse. Following
the Doubledogdare, the Christophe Clement trainee proceeded to add a win in the
Shuvee H. (G2) to her resume as well as placings in the Ogden Phipps and
Delaware ‘Cap. Though it’s not inconceivable she should win the Spinster, the
race appears more of a tightener before the big dance.