Asmussen: No Rachel for Blossom
 

Rachel unlikely to make Apple Blossom
By Marcus Hersh

http://www.drf.com/news/article/111445.html

NEW ORLEANS - Rachel Alexandra's connections have decided not to ship her from Fair Grounds to Oaklawn Park on Monday morning, as had tentatively been planned before Sunday, and Rachel Alexandra now is unlikely to start in the April 9 Apple Blossom Invitational, trainer Steve Asmussen said Sunday afternoon.

Rachel Alexandra, Horse of the Year in 2009, lost her first start of 2010 on Saturday, going down by three-quarters of a length to Zardana in the New Orleans Ladies, her first defeat since 2008. Earlier Sunday morning, Asmussen said that Rachel came out of her race in good health, eating well Saturday night, and appearing to be in good spirits Sunday morning. Nevertheless, he and owner Jess Jackson made the decision sometime Sunday that she would remain at Fair Grounds for now, rather than shipping to Oaklawn to take up her training there later this week.

"She's not going," Asmussen said. "After discussions with Mr. Jackson and the whole crew, we're not going to send her to Hot Springs in the morning. She's not where we want physically. That most likely eliminates the Apple Blossom. We're not comfortable with how she responded to the accelerated program, so we're going to continue to train her at Fair Grounds and see what happens."

Rachel Alexandra's course of training through the winter in New Orleans did not unfold smoothly. She missed time in December and January because of wet and cold weather, and was on a tight schedule to make the New Orleans Ladies, her potential Apple Blossom prep. In Saturday's race, Rachel Alexandra pressed a demanding half-mile pace, took the lead into the far turn, but was worn down by Zardana through the stretch run.

"She's clearly not up to her previous level," Asmussen said. "We're going to regroup and come back again. The disappointment from yesterday continues."

Somehow this has to be Zenyatta and her connections fault...it always is. Now she is running on dirt and RA is not going to show. Sense a pattern here?

No Apple Blossom for Rachel
By Gary West

http://startelegramsports.typepad.co...or-rachel.html

NEW ORLEANS -- Rachel Alexandra won’t run April 9 in the Apple Blossom at Oaklawn Park, her trainer, Steve Asmussen, said moments ago. Asmussen discussed the Apple Blossom plans with the Horse of the Year’s principal owner, Jess Jackson, before announcing that a trip to Hot Springs, Ark., was not in Rachel Alexandra’s immediate future.

Despite the loss, Rachel Alexandra came out of Saturday’s race with no negative effects. She ate up Saturday night and rested comfortably. She walked the shedrow calmly this morning, Asmussen said, and seemed very relaxed.

When's the JJ press conference? I'm sure the great sportsman Jess Jackson will have some words of wisdom he'll want to share with racing world.

another conspiracy...:rolleyes:


seriously, this illustrates why so often they can't get top horses together. everything has to be exactly perfect, or someone backs out. it's a shame they couldn't meet last year, when both were doing so well. jack/ass tried to rush rachel back, and she gets defeated. so now she's tarnished and not going to the apple blossom, rather then them telling charles cella that it wasn't in the cards. here's hoping she gets back to where she was last year, and that a confrontation can still occur.

The problem is that for some reason not losing trumps proving yourself against the best competition. With very few exceptions (Personal Ensign) the best horses of modern times lost. It really isnt that big of a deal.

r/a/ out
 

drf says r/a out of race in april from jess jackson:( :(

This doesn't make any sense to me at all.
If she needed the race, doesn't bringing her back in four weeks make sense? Unless I am mistaken, Ass has always been a much better 2ndOff trainer. So with a race under her belt (and four weeks of training opportunities in front of her) doesn't the race seem to be coming up at the perfect time?
What am I missing?

Thought Assman and Jackson had a bigger pair of noggins. Though I am an RA fan, I hope they wipe up their tears and see how she does in the next few weeks before hitting the panic button.

Exactly right.
What is the big deal about her getting beat yesterday? It isn't like she ran horribly. I admit I don't know squat about training a horse, but I didn't see a thing from that race yesterday that made me think she shouldn't run at OP.

I, for one, am shocked.

I should have sold my four seats on the finish line on Stub Hub when I had the chanch. From $600 each back down to face value.:(

I wonder how many people jumped the gun and bought scalped tickets?

The problem seems to be they have unrealistically overrated the filly. She is a very good horse with a couple of truly fantastic accomplishments. However she is not invincible, no horse is

This one fizzled out quickly. This kind of **** happens when a 3rd stringer beats your 'champion'. At least the connections have a realistic gauge on things. Which is more than can be said for RA's many supporters.

If only Borel lets her go earlier. :rolleyes:

Couldn't it be that RA just won't really be ready for that race? She didn't appear to be ready yesterday.

what do you mean? Haven't you heard of Zenyatta?!?

Zenyatta has beat up on cupcakes in 90% of her starts. She is far from a lock taking on males (even the crappy ones that masquerade as grade 1 horses these days) on dirt.

3 day old cupcakes

If Rachel doesn't show in the AB, you have to wonder if the Moss' are thrilled about Sheriff's decision to send Zardana against RA yesterday, even second place in the AB would have been worth a lot more than a win is worth now. It is not everyday you get to run for $5 million!

I expect Zenyatta to lose that race anyway.

I guess I should have added one of these: :rolleyes:

They could supplement to the Dubai WC!

You never know these days. People who bomb abortion clinics are less twisted than some of the fans of these fillies...

True enough . It's tough out on the track. The competition is fierce . That's why they run the race . RA did not embarrass herself .

Then how will she ever get "ready?" If they think the filly was short for the race yesterday, why don't they use it as a foundation, get plenty of work in her over the next few weeks, and run her?
I think the whole idea that trainers can get horses primed to peak for a particular race is a bit overrated. However, I guess I don't understand the point of a "prep" race if a less than stellar performance in that race derails the horse from the actual targeted race. Isn't the point supposedly to help them get ready for the targeted race. How did yesterday not accomplish that for RA?
It isn't like she ran a complete clunker yesterday. She ran fine. What in the world makes the connections think she isn't capable of reaching her top form in 4 weeks?

Do they even bother sending Z to Oak now? There's got to be a Grade 1, five horse field of fillies and mares to challenge her in California around the same time.

Exactly. Somebody forgot to tell the connections that

They also have a trainer that isn't exactly Frankel off the layoff.. Note to Jess you want Rachel back give Hal a call.. lol

Detox is a killer

I agree with racing for foundation.. I just get the sense she was being rushed into this race(and the next)..

You're bound to get one right one of these days.

I think its great they didn't wait around to make this announcement. Good for them! They took a shot in the prep to see how she looked and it wasn't to their liking. That being the case- why run?

Hopefully, Rachel will be back sometime later in the spring or summer and we can see this go down.

Wouldn't you be pissed if they waited around for another week or two before making the announcement?

Rushed off that layoff? Jesus if that is the case then might as well close all of the tracks. It's obvious horses weren't meant to race.

/sarcasm

Does make you wonder. You would have thought that they would have said they were disappointed that the filly lost but she would definitely improve off that effort. But they are acting astonished that she lost even though assmussen had said he was concerned with her fitness level going in.

What if she goes out and turns in absolutely stellar workout next week. She looks great, runs a fast time, etc.
That leaves two options:
1) They continue to say she isn't going....which would make virtually no sense.
2) They change their mind and say she is going to run....in which case....why announce right now one way or the other?

This decision really makes very little sense, either there is something wrong with her or they are hitting the panic button.

Chances are good Zenyatta skips now. Gotta love horse "racing"

While I understand where you are coming from and fully expected Jackson to drag it out before backing out but the reasoning behind not running is unusual to say the least.

It is starting to sound like the "ole micro fracture" announcement..You know it kind of goes like this. "We just wanted to make sure nothing was coming up hot ,and wouldn't you know it.. She seems to have a xxxx on her xxx and although its not career threaten she will never be able to come back to her top form.. With great sadness we have to retire are great champion."

"If I knew she wasn't going to win I wouldn't have run her". Asmussen

What did I tell this forum...

You can apply that to last year also with running in the Woodward against mediocre Bullsbay and Macho Again rather than trying real horses in the Travers. Then she skips the BC and now when she loses a 'Prep' which is designed to get the horse ready for a match up with Zenyatta, they once again duck, avoid the race. It's embaressing that they moved the race 1 week back to accomodate her.

As I told some of you last year to all that bought into this marvellous campaign that she somehow faced the best in raciing. There was an element of smoke and mirrors to her HOY season. With racing there is always risk to losing, however with these connections the chance of winning does not equal the fear of losing. Let the excuses come via the fanclub.

If this wasn't dissapointing this would be actually funny.