After watching their COO try and turn on a vacuum cleaner last night, I'd say slim and none are where my money is.

Exactly. It's sad.

What it really comes down to Brian out of the camouflage of the statement of “doing what is good by the horse statement” is they just don’t believe she can beat Zenyatta in the Apple Blossom in a month’s time. The problem is when you have a horse of this billing, in race publications to racing boards, to respected writers. The reasons of not running in the Apple Blossom look bad from an optics point of view, this is especially true when both connections agreed to the conditions a month ago they would meet, even having the race bumped back a week for Rachel. I don’t think anyone with a reasonable head expects Rachel to be perfect, however Jess Jackson and Steve Asmussen seem to have a problem with this thinking, they somehow feel it taints her image if she loses, and it reflects in the races they select for her to the races they ultimately avoid.

i've seen that show before, altho not last night....amazing how utterly inept some of the ceo's/coo's of these companies turn out to be.

I don't believe they fear a loss as much as they feared Moss retiring z if she had won the Apple Blossom. That is why Jackson said things like they should meet 3 times. The year is still young and plenty of opportunities remain to face each other.

info from toga chuck

Like I said, as pompous as Jackson has been, the pathetic vote-for-me Rachel stinks act that the Mosses have displayed the last six months is equally as offensive. The only thing that would be worse is if they hired Jay Hovdey as their cheerleader in chief.

So the people that are giving you info from Saratoga have a crystal ball that tells them that she would be short a month from now after having had a race and probably three more works under her belt?

chuck she just started working on jan 27 , zenyatta hasn't missed a beat since oct

ra has been out since when sept

so from sept tp jan she did nothing - correct

1st work on jan 27 , zenyatta didn't miss a beat

they both ran yesterday and the AB is when 3 weeks - how could she possible be ready to face Z that amount of time? how could she be ready for a peak effort ?

I feel bad for the poor folks who can't collect $100,000 now just for putting their horse in the gate.

So Assmussen rushed the horse to get ready for last Sat's race when he knew she couldnt be ready on April 9th anyway?

This is bs logic especially when you know that she isnt running so there is no chance that you can be proven wrong.

Horses used to prep in sprint races all the time before stretching out. I guess none of them were ready either.

let's say you were the trainer chuck and mr jackson came to you and wanted you to make the April 9th race against Z. would you be able to get her ready to face Z in that amount of time ?

the facts are RA off since sept , works start jan 27 , Zenyatta retired but not missing a beat in training for some odd reason since the BC - is there any possible way that RA could be at 100 % for this race on april 9th , we all know Z is and will be at 100% , but could rachel be there? is it really fair for RA to face Z on april 9th given the fact that 1 horse has not missed a beat since oct and the other one had a 5 mth layoff and will have about 2 1/2 months of acclerated training? if the shoe was on the other foot would sheirffs really run Z against RA?

Rachel actually didn't start working until January 31.

NT

Your logic makes sense if you are talking about the 1st race back off of a layoff, not the second. What Zenyatta has done or is doing doesnt have any bearing on RA's fitness level.

I still don't understand what I'm missing here.
Did RA run 130 BSFs all last year and all of the sudden run a 75 last Saturday? I don't think so. Did she run back to her top numbers in her first back? No, but she ran well enough and fast enough that it seems perfectly reasonable to expect that she might be close to where she was last year in her next start.
People (including the connections apparently) make it sound as if she went from being Citation last year to being a $5K claimer in her first race this year. Neither is the case.

ok simpler question - if the roles were reversed do you think sheriffs would run against RA in the AB ?- say Z took off from sept to late jan and ra didn't miss a beat since oct , do you think sheriffs and moss would agree to that ?

again here are the facts:

1 horse off from sept to late jan , 1 horse working regurlaly even though she was supposed to be retired since oct

they both race sat and will go again in 3 weeks - who has the fitness edge ?? are we to believe that Z has no fitness edge?

are we to believe that if the roles were reversed moss and sheriffs would acclerate Z's training from late jan to get her ready to run against a horse that hasn't missed a beat since oct in the AB?

Why would they do that? wouldn't it be too late to breed her? Plus I really think they enjoy watching the horse run... yeah, I'm pretty sure they feel like they got the raw end of the deal last year (and the year before), I disagree (at least for 2009), Rachel had a better year, doesn't mean I think Rachel's better, but I think they are going to do what they can to actively pursue a Horse of the Year award in 2010.

the proof is out there from last year... Zenyatta didn't race until June; they took their time with her off a hard campaign.

Would we be questioning RA's fitness if Zardana wasn't in that race? She would have posted a nice Beyer in a win by open lengths. A lot of folks would be handing her the AB victory already.

On the flip side, Zenyatta's number was much lower on that crap surface in her home state. And she only beat a bunch of mules. This is true, I read it on a forum somewhere. Sounds like Zenyatta is the one who should be backing down.

Guess she doesn't read Derby Trail.

So are you saying that Ass/Jackson never should have agreed to run in the OP race in the first place because there is simply no way they had enough time to get her ready for it?

horses are a lot like humans , if you try to make them do things they are not comfertable doing then how do you think they will respond , these horses are not machines you just can't turn the key on and hit the gas pedal

yes -( Assmussen had no inital say in my opinion , you can put up all the quotes about what he said , they are all just sound bites to the media, in my opinion it was the owners decision )

would you care now to answer my questions since i answered yours ?

What questions? The ones about what Moss would do in an alternate universe where the situation was reversed?
I have no earthly idea.

All I do know is that both horses ran pretty well on Saturday, although both ran considerably slower than they did at the end of their respective campaigns last year. Personally, I know of no reason why both couldn't run better in a race four weeks down the road.
What did Rachel run on saturday in terms of BSFs? A 100? Is it really imposible to think that she could run considerably better four weeks later, and that that might be good enough to win the race? I don't think so. I realize BSFs certainly aren't the only way to judge the quality of a performance, but it would seem possible - and perhaps even probable - for her to run a 105+ in four weeks. That could very easily be good enough to win.

if you and another similar human being were going to run a race , let's say a distance race , last year you both ran a lot were in shape were both winning races and were working out reguarly

now you take off in sept and totally shut down until late jan , you start up training again , you have to change up your regiemen to get ready for a race in april

your oppoent let's say danzig, ran his last race in oct, told you he was going to call it quits and retire , but, you see him out there doing his daily work and not missing a beat all throughout the winter

would you really want to take him on with only 2 1/2 months of training , while he hasn't missed a beat since oct - who do you think would be better fit to run the race???? .................it's the same with horses , these are animals these are not machines with keys in them

Who am I running against, Danzig the horse, or Danzig the DT.com member?
If it is Danzig the horse....I'm pretty sure I'd lose.
If it is Danzig the DT member....I'm not sure. I've met her before and although she looked like she keeps in pretty good shape, I'd have the advantage of a longer stride......so.....it could go either way.

Listen, based on her race Saturday, I just don't think RA's fitness looked as dismal as you and others seem to believe. The reason I don't think that is becasue she ran a fast race. Was she short? Yeah probably, but not ridiculously so, and I don't see how that ensures that she won't be "ready" for the next start.

what does ready mean ? ready for 5,000 rats from beaulah park or ready for another possible horse of the year ?----- again the simple facts are 1 horse has been rushed back to the races by her connections , the other hasn't missed a beat ----why not wait until the summer , let RA build back her stamina that she lost from taking off 4 months ..... why not let them run when they both are at peak condition and ready to go? do you really think that zenyatta won't have an edge over ra if they both go in the ab?

No I don't.
If they both end up running, my money will still probably be on RA.

fair eneough , that's your opinion

http://leftatthegate.blogspot.com/20...-zenyatta.html

Some great lines...

Rachel could have an injury or problem sustained prior to the last race . That's the conjecture . Is it a breathing problem or bleeding that caused her to flatten out ? We're guessing, of course .

Somehow I don't think Shirreffs is losing any sleep over this, AeWingnut


Picking off that filly (which STOLE the HotY trophy that your mare deserved) with your third-stringer … PRICELESS...

stole , yup , she stole it alright

Or, "flattening out" could be nothing more sinister than, "first race off a layoff". You know, where they just are not cranked up and completely fit yet? :rolleyes:

Did nobody look at Rachel in the paddock before the race? Compare that physical to what she looked like last time she ran? There was a pretty noticable difference.

Like 120lbs?

Did they ditch the tv coverage (I think it was ESPN2) of the Apple Blossom or are they going ahead with it? I realize they can easily put something else there, I just didn't know if they had.

i doubt its the first race back and shes not cranked up. if that were the case i think she would be racing. they expected to win that race. forget the paddock, she did not look good running the race.it looked like she was pulling borail to the front because the inside horse was ahead. i think its more than just being short. if she can't win a race like that and runs that way again, if they race her again, its retirement time. she really has not run "great" since the haskell which was months and months ago. anyone that watches races objectively and is not caught up in rachelmania could see the woodward was not that good a race and she was life and death to hit the wire. it was kind of like barely beating chop liver. the horses she beat were absolute duds after the race. macho again could not come within a city block of the top males and bullsbay was worse. rachel did run her eyes out but at what price, that campaign was tough for any horse.

Grand Theft Eclipse, in my estimation, gales0678


Thought they had her a bit overrated last year. She never had to face much in those races.

Would be hilarious if she drops a couple more this season...

it is o.k. to be a fan of both fillies right, dont understand the " hope zen or rach " do bad thing.....as more of a zan fan i still think rachael is a fantastic horse.

I wonder how our pal Kgar is handling it, Serotonin perhaps? I suspect there is abit of that flowing around here. Seriously I feel a bit sorry for all that bought into her supposed superiority over Zenyatta, based on one win in one of the weaker Woodward's in recent memory and obcourse the inflated win over Summer Bird in the Haskell. She did enough to win HOY, that's fine, I have no problem with the decision. Never had. However I never believed she was better than Zenyatta was, especially after what she did in the BC. Some of us cab adjust, reanalyse...If there is a silver lining in this, it did show just how devious Jess Jackson really is and secondly it showed just because a horse was a good 3 yr old, it isn't necessarily a sure thing they come back better at 4. It's not all rain and gloom around here.