One of the greatest 11.25 length defeats by a filly in history

[the_fat_man]

Some interesting post race comments:

'Calvin Borel, rider of runner-up Rachel Alexandra (No. 2): “She just got outrun. I had everything my way, and she just got outrun.
“After we put away Life At Ten at the quarter pole, I didn’t feel any acceleration and I got worried. She wasn’t really there. I knew if anyone was running behind us, we were in trouble. If you can’t take the losing with the winning, you can’t be in the game.”

'Shug McGaughey, winning trainer of Persistently (No. 3):“I thought that [Rachel Alexandra] might be a little vulnerable going a mile and a quarter, and I knew we’d run a mile and a quarter. I knew we would run a mile and a quarter. Her female family runs a long way.....We were just lucky enough to pick up the pieces.”

' John Velazquez, jockey aboard third-place finisher Life At Ten (No. 4):
“That was a speed duel. I thought my filly would be on the lead, [Calvin Borel, jockey aboard Rachel Alexandra (No. 2)] would rate in second, but he sent her out and got in the lead and all that did was create more problems for my horse because now she was engaged. But I wasn’t going to take her back; I just left her alone. I wasn’t going to go back either, so I just held my position and left it alone. The half-mile pole came and I thought she was dead and then the three eighths pole came and she was done. Nothing left"