Monday, September 07, 2009

Horses for courses?



Top: 31,000 fans gathered at Saratoga on Saturday to watch RA in action & (below) the bay wonder with Calvin Borel in saddle [Pics: equidaily.com & wikipedia.org]

If you strongly believe in the racing adage "horses for courses", what do you call a filly who has won at numerous racetracks in six different American states?

Call her Rachel Alexandra.

Born on January 29, 2006 on a Kentucky farm, she shot into limelight three months ago when she became the first filly in 85 years to win the Preakness Stakes (the last this race was won by a filly was in 1924 when Nelly Morse crossed the wire ahead of the boys.)

The six American states that Rachel Alexandra has conquered in her short career so far, when winning 11 races from 14 starts and amassing nearly US $3m, are Kentucky, Louisiana, Arkansas, Maryland, New Jersey & New York. During most of her victories, she has pulverized her rivals, including top colts of her age, by wide margins and, in some cases, setting new course records.

A write-up about her on Wikipedia.org says:

"Rachel Alexandra is an exquisite bay filly with a distinctive upside-down-exclamation-point-shaped white blaze on her nose. She is considered quite tall for a filly and stands an estimated 16 hands at the withers. She is known for her calm and gentle disposition yet her passion for running and winning races. Her preferred style of running is generally that of a front runner (running on the lead) or a stalker (running close to the lead.)

Rachel Alexandra was bred and originally owned by Dolphus Morrison who named her after his granddaughter. Before she became sucessful as a racehorse, Dolphus Morrison sold part interest in her to Michael Lauffer. Her initial trainer was Hal Wiggins, Morrison's regular trainer, who trained her up until the Kentucky Oaks 2009. After her Kentucky Oaks victory, Rachel Alexandra was sold for an undisclosed amount (rumoured to be in excess of $10 million) to Stonestreet Stables & Harold T. McCormick, with billionaire Jess Jackson of Kendall Jackson Winery holding controlling interest. Her current trainer is Steve Asmussen. Her regular jockey is Calvin Borel."

Nearly 31,000 fans visited Saratoga racetrack on Saturday (Sep 5) when she won the Group 1, Woodword Stakes, this time beating top older males. She acted a bit termperamental in the pre-race paddock parade, throwing off her rider Calvin Borel, and a lot many people wondered how she was going to tackle some of the best older males in the business with such excitability. But Rachel Alexandra set a fast pace, cut blazing fractions and still held on to win gracefully when challenged by Bullsbay.

Watch that video on the Race TV channel of my racing toolbar to get a glimpse of RA's greatness and grit.

10 comments:

  1. Dear prakash sir,

    can u give ur selectons to kolkata

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous,
    FINOO selections are suspended until further research and fine-tuning of the system.

    Blog Moderator

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dear Prakash G.
    It was a great X=pirience reading ur blog when you used to post ur FINOO,the system what u adopted for your racing fans,Oh I forgot to mention bout the TOOL BAR is just amazing everthing right there at the click of a key.This morning I was goin thru JITENRA'S Blog and read a few comments how people take out their frustuations on the Blog Moderator. Sir a very small request can you please mail me your personal e-mail i.d & the i.d of Jitendra,need to exchange a few things in common. Eagarly awating for the same.
    Regards
    Rohit

    ReplyDelete
  4. Rohit,

    Mr Gosavi's email id is gosavi@mid-day.com where you can send him a mail; however, at present, please don't be disappointed if you don't get a quick response as, due to the FINOO research, replying to mails may be a bit lower in his priority right now as he has made clear on this blog.

    Blog Moderator

    ReplyDelete
  5. just a request please provide link to your selections on blog instead of only on toolbar...due to reasons cannot have that toolbar on my pc..Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous,
    if you could be more elaborate about why you cannot have toolbar on your PC, we will be in a better position to help you. Please note that our toolbar is absolutely SAFE & SECURE, and is backed by the guarantee of a company whose toolbars are used by 60 million users worldwide. You may get a perfunctory message that it could be dangerous to install this file on your PC, but please ignore it if you wish to enjoy one-click access to Indian racing world on web.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Mr gosavi can you pl only once comment abt set alight running in president gold cup at h'drabad? Do you thin she can win? please i will be highly obliged. Pl.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Dear Mandar,
    I would like to reproduce, one last time, what I said about Set Alight after her Derby run, so that you know my opinion about her, as of now, stays unchanged.

    On April 21, 2009, in my article, titled My take on Set Alight's Derby run, I wrote:
    ----
    It is a matter of conjecture why Set Alight on this occasion, despite racing in leisurely pace, could not produce three sub-12s in the last four furlongs. The reasons, generally, are lack of class, health or stamina.

    Since we all know Set Alight is stuffed with class every ounce, it could be either health or stamina.

    If it is health, she may not race for a long time now; if it is stamina, we will have to wait for confirmation until she runs 12 furlongs or more against worthy rivals.

    I will wait until then before making further comments on this issue.

    ====
    On April 23, 2009 at 2:57 PM, in the comments section, in a reply to Mildly Irritated, I again reiterated my stand, saying:
    ----
    Set Alight definitely did not have fuel in the tank in the last furlong, but it was not because the jockey exhausted it. The reason could be related to either her health or stamina, or both.
    ====
    ...continued to next post

    ReplyDelete
  9. ...continued from last post

    On May 2, 2009 at 9:12 AM, in a reply to Sameera, I again said:
    ----
    Dear Sameera,
    Although only time will tell if the real reason for Set Alight's loss was health or stamina, personally I feel it had more to do with her health on that particluar day than her stamina.
    ====

    For me, personally, her absence from even exercise track for more than three months after the Derby itself tells its own story and needs no further comment. Now IF she chooses to run in the President of India Gold Cup (2400m) on the 13th, we can only know if her health has "improved" after the last run, and whether she can tackle the mile-and-a-half now without coming under pressure.

    In this context, my quote of April 21, ".....if it is stamina, we will have to wait for confirmation until she runs 12 furlongs or more against worthy rivals. I will wait until then before making further comments on this issue." is my answer to your present question.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Mandar Set alight is history now. Forget & get on with life. Mr Gosavi it is sad you wasting time to reply such Qs. Pl focus on finoo reserch & come back soon. We are wating sir.

    ReplyDelete

Wish to post as "Anonymous"? Not a problem.
But a better way is to use the Name/URL option and take up some net name of your choice. That way your privacy is protected and other readers can associate your thoughts with your web personality. Think about it.
A sincere appeal by Prakash Gosavi, blog owner