Rachel Alexandra a go for La Troienne

[Revidere]

Originally Posted by ateamstupid

Gio Ponti preferred synthetics? Based on what? And Twice Over? For real?
Gio Ponti and Twice Over both transferred their grass form to the synthetics. Zenyatta beating them was impressive. Please don't downplay that performance. I didnt even mention Summer Bird, because all the Rachelites (like that?) would say "he was racing on synthetics!!!" He ran his race as well and she dusted him.
And you're cherry picking some of the lousier horses behind RA and comparing them to the best mare behind Zenyatta.

All I heard after the Test was that Flashing joined Gabby's Golden Gal as Grade 1 winners that Rachel soundly thrashed. What other horses were there? Mine that Bird? Musket Man? Macho Again? Bullsbay? Has any of them besides Summer Bird and Flashing even won again?

I think a good horse winning an N2L over a synthetic track doesn't demonstrate an "affinity" for synthetics the way you say. And people are conveniently downplaying the role that the different surface in the BCC played and how much the race's result would be overblown. They knew Zenyatta loved the SA surface. They had no idea how Rachel would like it. They knew the winner would be called the definitively better horse. I would've said it's not worth it as well. Once again, it's demonstrably easier to transfer synthetic form to dirt than vice versa.

That is entirely correct. Which is why running over it once or twice to see how she handled it would might have been something to try. Would it have ruined her reputation? Didn't seem to hurt Curlin's. It's funny, Shirreffs just got killed on this board for "declaring" so early that Zenyatta wouldn't run in the Stephen Foster, while Jackson made his decision in June that Rachel wouldn't run in the Breeder's Cup.

Not sure where this goes from here, but I just want them to remain healthy and happy. If they run against each other, so be it. One great champion will win and the other will go back to the Assmussen barn.