Rachel Alexandra Oaks
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How can anyone say Zenyatta is better than Rachel Alexandra when Rachels last speed figure is 4 lengths better?
Also, Rachel Alexandra is only a three year old and hasn’t even reached her peak.
Zenyatta, while a perfect 11-11 has never faced or beaten the boys, something Rachel has done twice.
Zenyatta’s last four races, while being Grade 1 & 2 victories were against the same type females, all in California and on Synthetics. Now let’s look at Rachel’s last four races: 1.) She beat the Belmont Stakes winner in the Haskell in record time. 2) a 19+ length victory in the Mother Goose, 3.) Beat the Kentucky Derby winning colt in the Preakness and 4.) a 20 1/4 length victory in the Kentucky Oaks.
Can anyone make a better case for Zenyatta?
Going to extend expiration. Zenyatta did in fact win again, but only by a head at .20 to the dollar over a 22-1 shot
http://www.equibase.com/static/chart/pdf/DMR080909USA8.pdf
See how her BSF stacks up to Rachel’s last race and welcome additional answers.
Rachel Alexandras BSF in the Haskell is 116 topping her 108 by 8 pts.
First, a note on the Clement Hirsch… in that race, we saw the importance of pace in a race. Life is Sweet is the second best older female racehorse in the country… if not for Zenyatta, she would be the obvious leader of her division. She’s a great horse but only finished 4th… why? Because there was no pace in the race. Most closers need a fast pace so the pacesetters tire and the closers can get by. There was no pace in the Clement Hirsch… they went 6 furlongs in 1:13.60… horses commonly go faster than that in 6 furlong workouts… top sprinters could go 6.5 furlongs in 1:13.60. Because there was no pace, the race was skewed in favor of a pacesetter… Life is Sweet couldn’t get by two pacesetters because the slow pace left them enough energy to sprint home in the stretch. Zenyatta is an anomaly. She’s a deep closer who can run by anything in the stretch regardless of the pace. That’s what makes Zenyatta a champion… she can win even when things don’t go her way.
Rachel Alexandra is great. I’ve been a fan since before the Kentucky Oaks. It’s fun to watch her run away in the stretch especially when she’s facing colts.
I really don’t know which is the better racehorse. Months ago I said in an answer that I almost hope that they don’t race each other because I don’t want to see either one get beat. I’ve been a fan of Zenyatta longer than I’ve been a fan of Rachel merely because Zenyatta was racing before Rachel. But because I was a Zenyatta fan first, my loyalty makes me favor her for Horse of the Year. Furthermore, I wanted her to win Horse of the Year last year, but it was given to Curlin. And this is Zenyatta’s last year racing while Rachel could continue racing as a 4 year old next year (and I hope she does). So I’d like to see Zenyatta be horse of the year this year and Rachel can take the honors next year… in a perfect world. On the other hand, it might be better for racing if Rachel wins Horse of the Year… after all, Rachel Alexandra is a household name… her win in a Triple Crown race opened her up a national audience. If Rachel wins Horse of the Year, it’s national news and anytime horse racing is in the national news for something good, it’s good for horse racing.
Now, to make a case for Zenyatta…
First, it’s unfair to compare Zenyatta and Rachel merely by margin of victory… rounding the turn into the stretch, Rachel is always on or near the lead while Zenyatta is in midpack about 10 spots off the rail… from there, Rachel obviously can make a bigger margin of victory than Zenyatta merely because Zenyatta still has to pass half of the field in the stretch.
Also, lets not slight Zenyatta for a close victory at 1-5 over a 22-1 shot… this is a Zenyatta race… it’s not an ordinary race with ordinary odds… there was about $500,000 bet on Zenyatta to show. When Zenyatta’s in a race, everyone else in the race is a 20-1 shot. The exception is Life is Sweet who would be the clear leader in the Older Female division but for Zenyatta. Saying that Zenyatta barely got past a 22-1 shot makes it sound like she had to fight through the stretch with some $3500 claimer and that’s not at all the case.
I also don’t think it’s fair to slight Zenyatta based on her competition. Personally, I’d love to see her race against colts, but it’s not really my decision. Zenyatta faces older females because that’s her division. Rachel has faced colts twice and that’s great… she’s faced two divisions… 3 year old fillies and 3 year old colts. But like Jerry Moss said, Rachel’s is facing 3 year olds and Zenyatta’s not allowed to do that anymore. There’s a big difference between 3 year olds and older horses… that’s the reason that 3 year old races are not open to older horses… it would be unfair to the 3 year olds. While Rachel has faced colts, she’s never faced any horse older than 3 years old. And I don’t think that the 3 year old colts that Rachel has been facing are all that difficult. The Triple Crown this year was the second string horses… the good ones sat out with injuries. Rachel has faced the same colts… she needs to face the 3 year olds who are peaking now like Quality Road and stablemate Kensei and older females with more experience than she has. So it’s not fair to slight Zenyatta for her competition when Rachel’s not facing the best horses she could face either.
And I don’t think that speed figures are entirely fair either. Rachel Alexandra is a horse that likes to be on or near the lead. She gets to control how fast the race is going. Zenyatta’s a closer who has no control over the early pace. In fact, when Zenyatta’s in the race, the pacesetters want to go as slow as possible so they might be able to run with her in the stretch. When Rachel’s in the race, other horses in the race (even horses who are supposed to be closers) want to press the pace to make Rachel go faster in hopes that she’ll wear down in the stretch so
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