Asmussen: No Rachel for Blossom

[Antitrust32]

Originally Posted by CSC

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.

I'm sorry.. but Rachel and Zenyatta have never raced against each other? You make it seem like one race off a huge layoff where she lost by a lenght makes her worse than Zenyatta, eventhough they still havent faced each other?

I'll tell you that you are correct only when Zenyatta beats Rachel head to head.

[CSC]

Originally Posted by Antitrust32

I'm sorry.. but Rachel and Zenyatta have never raced against each other? You make it seem like one race off a huge layoff where she lost by a lenght makes her worse than Zenyatta, eventhough they still havent faced each other?

I'll tell you that you are correct only when Zenyatta beats Rachel head to head.

I really don't want to rehash all of this again, but they did have a chance to resolve this in the Apple Blossom this time around, where only because of Zardana being in the field, wrecked what otherwise was as close to a perfect prep for her as possible. Adding on to the 3 weeks, 6 days of possible works leading up to the big race, it is a mystifying move by what some hailed as a sportsman last year. Optically having Jess Jackson pull out would indicate they don't like their chances. As for them ever meeting, we would all love to see this. Let's face it, if Jess doesn't believe she can win, it will never happen. And that is why they are not meeting in the Apple Blossom.

[DaTruth]

Originally Posted by CSC

I really don't want to rehash all of this again, but they did have a chance to resolve this in the Apple Blossom this time around, where only because of Zardana being in the field, wrecked what otherwise was as close to a perfect prep for her as possible. Adding on to the 3 weeks, 6 days of possible works leading up to the big race, it is a mystifying move by what some hailed as a sportsman last year. Optically having Jess Jackson pull out would indicate they don't like their chances. As for them ever meeting, we would all love to see this. Let's face it, if Jess doesn't believe she can win, it will never happen. And that is why they are not meeting in the Apple Blossom.

z will have other chances to face the HOY. I wonder if Moss will ship z across the country again only to scratch on raceday because of a little rain. It is a good thing z was scratched at CD last year, because RA's romp in the Kentucky Oaks would have entirely overshadowed whatever z would have done in the Louisville Distaff.

[letswastemoney]

Very few Zenyatta fans distinguish between dirt and synthetic races and assume they would all play out the same.

Zenyatta has 1 dirt win, and admittedly it was an awesome win with a 110 beyer over a champion Ginger Punch. Yes, she beat a champion that day, establishing her quality on both surfaces.

But nearly all of her races and wins have come on tracks that favor her running style with the exception of her thumping Ginger Punch.

I would not bet that she could win with that running style every single time if 90% of her races were on a dirt track, rather than the other way around.

[slotdirt]

I'd wager large amounts of money that Zenyatta would not be anywhere near undefeated had she ran her career on, say, Santa Anita's old dirt strip. Then again, if my uncle had lady parts, he'd be my aunt, so that thought doesn't seem particularly relevant to this discussion.

[2Hot4TV]

This has really got me thinking that if Zenyatta had been racing with Formula one cars she wouldn't have even broke her maiden, but then again if you shoved a jet engine in her a s s she's right back in the race and 15 for 15 with a short tail and shiney shoes.

[westcoastinvader]

Originally Posted by letswastemoney

Very few Zenyatta fans distinguish between dirt and synthetic races and assume they would all play out the same.

Zenyatta has 1 dirt win, and admittedly it was an awesome win with a 110 beyer over a champion Ginger Punch. Yes, she beat a champion that day, establishing her quality on both surfaces.

But nearly all of her races and wins have come on tracks that favor her running style with the exception of her thumping Ginger Punch.

I would not bet that she could win with that running style every single time if 90% of her races were on a dirt track, rather than the other way around.

At last count I knew there were 25+ world tracks racing on surfaces other than dirt.

Two in the racing history bastion of Kentucky, and two in California...a state with a decent racing history of racing legend of it's own.

Rachel Alexandra has won over a synthetic surface at Keeneland.

Zenyatta won a stakes over a dirt surface at Oaklawn.

And Zenyatta and her connections agreed to meet Rachel Alexandra and crew on their stated surface of "comfort" in the Apple Blossom on dirt. Rachel Alexandra's crew had 7 months between her early September Woodward Stakes win and the Apple Blossom. They could have certainly devised an effective training regimen for Rachel Alexandra to race at top ability by April of her four year old season.

If they really wanted to.


That "synthetic surface versus dirt surface" argument for Rachel Alexandra's connections does not hold water either.

[Sightseek]

Originally Posted by westcoastinvader

At last count I knew there were 25+ world tracks racing on surfaces other than dirt.

Two in the racing history bastion of Kentucky, and two in California...a state with a decent racing history of racing legend of it's own.

Rachel Alexandra has won over a synthetic surface at Keeneland.

Zenyatta won a stakes over a dirt surface at Oaklawn.

And Zenyatta and her connections agreed to meet Rachel Alexandra and crew on their stated surface of "comfort" in the Apple Blossom on dirt. Rachel Alexandra's crew had 7 months between her early September Woodward Stakes win and the Apple Blossom. They could have certainly devised an effective training regimen for Rachel Alexandra to race at top ability by April of her four year old season.

If they really wanted to.


That "synthetic surface versus dirt surface" argument for Rachel Alexandra's connections does not hold water either.

Sure they had 7 months in which they "could have" prepared, but that is also ignoring the fact that she may have needed the time. (If you recall, Zenyatta was also given 7 months off leading into 2009.) Also, and stated here repeatedly, Zenyatta was retired (though training beautifully) until the second week of January - so the target of the Apple Blossom for them to meet up wasn't stated until that time and Rachel had yet to post a work.

Nice post by Rollo above.