We often hear about how a horse could have gone faster if asked and more often than not, it's wrong. You'd have to think that in her case, it's true. She ran effortlessly down the lane. Looked like she wasn't even running as hard as she did in her last work. And she still went only .23 slower than the stakes record. Those fillies in the Louisville were doing it an all-out drive and also in a race that was 1/16th shorter.

how soon we forget Rags to Riches? and 8 Belles:(

Bit of a misconception. . .

Are you serious? Neither of them could compare to Rachel. I might be missing someone but I think she's the best I've seen since Go for Wand and Bayakoa.

eight belles, rest her soul, had nothing on this filly. as for rags...i'd take rachel over rags to riches.

not in this particular case. rachel looked to be loping home.
she came close to the record today, she took two seconds off at oaklawn in the martha washington. TWO seconds. how often these days do you see that? most of the time it seems to be measured in tenths or hundredths anymore.

Double misconception. . .

is that sort of like double secret probation?

had 8 Belles run the Oaks last year instead of the derby how many would she have won by? i'm sure not 25 but it would have been open lengths and i'm a fan of Proud Spell. Rags had great determination.
i'm not knocking RA, she was impressive.
I'm just saying the last 5-10 years, a number of 3y/o fillies have been more impressive than the colts.

i can't argue with that.

Rachel is clearly a very good filly but there was not another stakes filly in the race. Rags beat a better bunch as did Proud Spell. If you put those fillies into this race either of them wins by 15-20 over those that Rachel beat.

Nice to really see a horse succeed without the help of a so called super Trainer, with that in mind I put her performance a notch above many others I've seen of late.

you must be drinking your bathwater!!!!!

Rags won her Oaks by 4 1/2 and was 1.12 seconds slower..... in the rain and mud.

agreed... I still think that Ouija Board best filly of this decade, but RA is gaining ground...

She was very good, but aren't you forgetting about a filly that won the Arc last year?

nope. Zarkarva was special, but Ouija Board was the best horse in the world for three years and last year's Arc was pretty weak. I still think in Frankie doesn't get her pinned on the rail in Tokyo in her last race she beats Deep Impact on his track in front of his home town crowd...

You don't think that Rags beats these fillies by at least 15? Rags came out of the Oaks to beat Curlin in the Belmont. I'd have to look it up but I do know that Octave was in that Oak and was a G1 winner. Who out of this bunch is a legit G1 filly, beside the winner?

As for Ouija Board and Zarkava, it's hard to comapre as OB had a full career and Zarkava stopped early. OB was a monstress and her career as an older mare proved it. OTOH, Zarkava beat some pretty serious horses and was never threatened.

I don't think the form of the Arc last year has held up very well; those horses she beat are not David Jr, Dillon Thomas or Giants Causeway.

That being said, what's the scoop on the superstar filly in Europe? Rainbow something I think.

Imo the bolded was one of the most bizarre races.
They absolutely crawled... it was just weird.
I cannot use that race as some sort of milestone
or measuring stick.

I also say leave the mighty O. Board out of this discussion.
She proved herself against a high level of competition in multiple
events over time. We are not close to that yet withRA.