Thanks.....
Agreed...very cool.
Thank you Mr. Jackson.
Silver Charm Wrote:
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> Thanks.....
Absolutely...This is the best thing for racing in a while.. I, a seasoned grizzled horseplayer, pointed back at Borel when he came up on the wire and I had no bet down on the race..Just enjoyed watching her..
That was spectacular.
Gotta give credit where it is due. Mr. Jackson has put her in the biggest races, and she has delivered.
Does anyone think he will back off his statement of passing the BC?? Would the Classic be a possibility??
One last thing.... does Todd Schrupp get paid by the word?? Geez, for about the last 2 minutes as they are walking towards the gate he couldn\'t shut up. Seriously, he talked right up until the gates opened. I appreciate his passion for the game, but can he give it a rest while the fans are anticipating the start of the race??
Thank you Mr. Jackson.
Just a beautiful performance yesterday.
P-Dub! I was thinking the exact same thing about Schrupp. I actually yelled \"just shut up already\" at the TV!
Schrupp not only has to talk more than anyone else, he also has to be louder than everyone else. Had a talbe beside him at Keeneland one-time, what an obnoxious bore.
TVG has such a lousy product throughout the year that the announcers have to fill with their mindless chatter. Matt Caruthers is another known for his gift of gab. I prefer my PC,it doesn\'t talk.
Only on this Board does a tribute to Jess Jackson turn into a Todd Schrupp/TVG Roast.
Lets get the Mike Smith Sucks string back up and going.....
It was an off handed remark that obviously others agree with. I\'m sure its the first time another subject has been mentioned in a thread. Next time we\'ll start an entire new thread so we don\'t interrupt a thread started by the almighty Silver Charm.
Only on this board do you read idiots criticizing Hall Of Fame riders. I\'m not surprised you miss it.
I agree with P-Dub, that was a spectacular effort by Rachel. She\'s met every challenge.
I\'d love to see Rachel run in the BC. I can\'t imagine anyone would hold it against her if she were beaten on that surface, it certainly didn\'t cost Curlin Horse of the Year. Right? He gave 100% and got beat.
For Rachel to run and win a BC race would cause people to start calling her one of, if not, the best fillies ever. If, by BC time, she\'s won the Travers, then Horse of the Year will be her\'s, so a loss on sythetic would be forgotten come voting time.
Imagine 2 different scenarios: Zenyatta versus Rachel and the other fillies in the BC Distaff, or Zenyatta and Rachel versus the boys in the Classic. How much mileage could this sport gain under those scenarios, especially the latter? How much money would the supporters of either Zenyatta or Rachel throw down in that race at attractive odds? Could be one of the biggest, most anticipated horse races in the history of the sport. If they all got around the track without incident, everyone wins in that scenario, even the beaten horse.
Then both them girls throw down against each other later in the fall on regular dirt. What a way to end a horse racing season.
So you think she has to run in the BC to be thought of as one of, if not the best fillies ever?
I said back in May that on ABILITY, not accomplishment, she\'s the best 3yo filly who ever lived. But on accomplishment-- which is what \"greatest\" conversations are usually about-- you know other 3yo fillies that have won two GI\'s aginst colts the same year? That\'s aside from a couple of 20 length wins in GI\'s against fillies. She\'s not just HOTY, she\'s horse of the century, so far. Ghostzapper is the only other one who you could even bring into the conversation.
Evidently Rachel is pointing for the Woodward, which is a good idea (5 weeks). That spot would also give Zenyatta 4 weeks after the Hirsch. Think they could sell tv rights to that one?
If she does run in the Woodward, all of the owners of every 3 year old colt in the country should send thank you notes galore because the Travers then becomes a wide open affair instead of a 3 horse race like it would be otherwise if she runs.
Saratoga would win big as well because the Travers would get a full field of all of the mediocore 3 year old colts to find out which of them is the least mediocore and then they get the race of the century in the Woodward if Zenayatta\'s connections have any guts.
On a side note, I think NYRA is doing some really creative things in terms of purse incentives for races that come off the turf if a certain number of entries stay in the race, etc. They are far from perfect but at least they are trying to do some creative things to help the game and they certainly have it \"more right\" than the west coast powers that be that have gone to 5 days a week and still have god awful fields. There was alot of positive buzz at the spa this weekend that NYRA is doing some things well.
Best guess is Jackson runs Kensai in the Travers. I would.
Okay, let me re-phrase. I intended to say she\'s one of, if not the best fillies ever, but not \"everyone\" is ready to call her the greatest filly ever. Typically, referring to an athlete as the \"greatest\" ever is reserved for when their career is over.
I do think it\'s possible that Jackson will run her in the BC. He\'s not getting any younger, and he has a filly for the ages on his hands. I would applaud him if he made the decision to run on plastic.
In my opinion, I don\'t think we\'re gonna see Zenyatta leave California until after the Breeder\'s Cup. With the type of success and following Rachel is generating (deservedly so), Zenyatta will have to make the first move in getting those two together, and that\'s unlikely until after November 6/7.
I\'d love to see those two hook up on dirt, and where drugs aren\'t a major factor. If they both remain sound, it\'s gonna happen somewhere.
I believe Kensei\'s best coming in was a 1. Not sure if he set a new top this weekend but I would think that Mine that Bird and Summer Bird would both handle him pretty easily with their bigger numbers they could run back to second off the layoff, especially on a track where its possible to close so you don\'t have to take deep closers out of their game by keeping them closer to the pace than they want to be.
I also thought the horse that won the Curlin Stakes, Blame, looked good yesterday and he might have gotten down to a good number with that effort yesterday but he\'s already improved alot this year so I don\'t think it would be right to assume another move forward from him in the Travers but it\'s not totally out of the question either.
High class problem for Jackson to have one of the favs for the Travers even if he runs his THREE YEAR OLD FILLY in the Woodward. Sick!
I do think the more negative press Zenyatta\'s connections get, the more likely they will be to answer back. I wish they were willing to be more aggressive in her campaign because they\'re getting butchered by their current plan, and it\'s not gonna stop anytime soon. You\'d almost think they\'d say \"enough\'s enough, let\'s go to the East Coast.\"
Z\'s connections are better off running aginst Rachel before the BC. First of all, one or the other might not be able to make it, which works against Z. Second, if she gets beat she can always come back in the Classic and regain her rep by winning. If they run in the Woodward (or Ruffian) she\'ll have plenty of time before the BC. Woodward has the advantage for both fillies of being weight for age, not handicap.
On the other hand, beating Rachel on dirt if she fires anything close to her best shot is unlikely enough without spotting her weight as a 3yo-- no matter when they meet.
It seems to me that Rachel is winning her races a lot easier than Curlin was. She is so dominating that she should be able to beat EVERY horse in America on broken glass.
Come on Jess. I\'ve only had pocket aces cracked once in my life. You have the best hand, \"shove all your chips in preflop\". You have pocket Aces, and Zenyatta is \"pocket Kings\". So what if you lose the BC. You still have the HOTY! And 2nd money in the BC aint too shabby - could feed a small country for a day. Hmmmmmmm.
TGJB thanks for weighing in and adding some perspective to a history making year and series of events.
HOY is all but over. Rachel is faster and has taken more risks than anyone. Colt or mare.
She embarrased a decent field yesterday and yet the fans still scream they want more.
Travers, Woodward, Zenyatta, BC Classic, Cigar Mile. Where does it stop?
I guess when \"The Jess Jackson Sucks\" string gets started we will know we are there.
Not quite a \"Jess Jackson Sucks\" article but not very complimentary either.
http://www.paulickreport.com/blog/jackson-acting-like-a-spoiled-kid/
Personally I think all attacks on him are unfair. If you want to \"blame\" anyone, why not the BC? They seem the most culpable in all this for keeping the BC @ OSA and depriving us of the match up we\'ve been waiting for.
Just a side wager-->better animal thus far: Rachel or Big Brown?
I don\'t think Zenyatta\'s speed figures and winning margins are doing her justice. I\'m not even sure you can compare slow paced synthetic races to fast paced dirt races using any of the standard handicapping methods. She\'s not getting proper credit among most handicappers because the races aren\'t fast and you can\'t win big on synthetic (especially with her running style).
Zenyatta is also a horse for the ages. She proved that in last year\'s Ladies Classic when she mowed down one of the best filly fields ever assembled in that race. She ran by them while extremely wide like they were a bunch of claimers.
Rachel will have an edge on dirt because of Zenyatta\'s running style, but I think Zenyatta proved her ability to handle dirt last year. So it could get interesting. That goes double because Zenyatta is probably just now getting into her best stride for 2009 and it\'s hard to imagine RA doing anything but starting to tail off from here.
If we don\'t get to see that match, it will be the one disappointing development in what has otherwise been a stellar year of racing so far.
TGJB Wrote:
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>> Evidently Rachel is pointing for the Woodward,
> which is a good idea (5 weeks). That spot would
> also give Zenyatta 4 weeks after the Hirsch. Think
> they could sell tv rights to that one?
Is the Woodward a 1 1/8 race? If so I think that\'s a better race for her too. I don\'t think I like her as much going 1 1/4 against the boys. Just my opinion.
Covelj,
I am not sure this is a mediocre class of 3 year olds, maybe it is, or maybe Rachel is one of the top 5 horses of all time (horses, not fillies) and she makes them look mediocre.
But regardless of Rachel, Quality Road is not mediocre, by any standard. Given a choice of seeing Rachel race in the Woodward against the medicore older horses, or see her race against Quality Road in the Travers, I would take her in the Travers. Quality Road, on his best, can run with Rachel. His races in Florida early this year were very very fast, and the \"re-break\" he crushed Dunkirk with in the Florida Derby was something special. Quality Road is much much better than Summer Bird and Mine that Bird, who are nice horses, but not fast enough to compete with Rachel, unless she is off.
Whether Quality Road can fire his best shot, at a demanding 1 1/4 at Saratoga, off just a 6 1/2 furlong prep, is questionable, but the colt is brilliant.
I will take the other side of all the people on this thread asking for Jess Jackson to change his mind.
Yeah, let\'s push the owner of the horse who has run at 7 different tracks in six different states this year to now take his horse and run her on plastic against Zenyatta, who hasn\'t left California in over a year because Shirreffs and the owner are worried about shipping her in and out of California 5 months before the Breeders Cup. Oh year, I forgot, once she was willing to run against Fleet Caroline before it got windy or rainy at Churchill and they scratched her. That Churchill surface was in better shape than the Monmouth one was this weekend.
Jess JAckson should stand pat and skip the Breeders Cup. Here\'s hoping he doesn\'t change his mind. The calls on this board from the left coast apologists should be to Shirreffs and the connections to actually try racing Zenyatta. Is anybody even going to watch the race at Delmar with Zenyatta this weekend? Equal weights against slow horses on plastic.
Jackson is a sportsman. As I and some others posted before his run in the Preakness, he was taking an \"all down side and no upside\" approach by running her in the Preakness off short rest. While everybody worried about breaddowns and the filly losing her form, she blew away that field, crushed fillies by 20 again, and now blasted the best of the 3 year old colts again at Monmouth while 4w/3w, running a 116 beyer. Now she contemplates a run against older colts or taking on 3 year old colts in the Travers at 1 1/4. While Nero (aka Shirreffs) fiddles.....
Jimbo,
couldn\'t agree more, I think I even suggested this in one of my posts that QR is the one who has the best chance of keeping up with her if the Amsterdam didn\'t knock him out. He is far from medicore, maybe even brillant. I like him alot.
Would love to see these two hook up in the Travers.
There was little reputation downside to running RA in the Preakness and Haskell. If she won, it was all glory. If she lost, well, she\'d still be one of the all time great fillies that lost to colts.
Zenyatta has more to lose in a match-up with RA.
Right now many people consider her a slow synthetic horse that has been beating up on non-entities and horses that don\'t like plastic even though she beat a top horse on dirt in her one try and also won a very strong edition of the BC. I\'d be willing to bet that our host thinks she\'s a mediocrity too. Personally, I disagree with that view strongly, but that would be the perception.
If she shipped to face RA where RA would clearly have the tactical advantage and lost (likely), she\'d forever be considered a mediocre synthetic horse.
If I controlled her I would take her out of CA to prove she\'s actually great and can earn fast figures on dirt, but I\'d have no inclination to face RA on dirt unless I could do so at 10F to at least try to even the playing field or get the tactical advantage.
We couldn\'t be calling out Rachel Alexandra to face Zarkava at 12F on turf where she would have the tactical advantage?
In fact, I think Zarkava may be better than both of them!
First Ray Paulick and now Cartman, Jess.
People think this is the Olympic High Jump or Pole Vault where no matter how high you went last jump, you now gotta go two inches higher
Whether you like it or not..........
Let\'s get that one on the to do list also............
Silver Charm Wrote:
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> Let\'s get that one on the to do list
> also............
It would only be a week\'s rest..she would definitely bounce.
In the real world, you break the world record 1/4\" at a time.
TGJB,
Rachel bounces to a 0 on short rest from the neg 4,but comes back 5+ weeks rest
later and runs the neg 1.5.Now,I\'m not asking for the fig,but if she had run a
neg 3 in her last off 5 weeks,what is the possibility in 5 weeks she returns
to the neg 4?
respectfully,
mjs
Flight-- there are too many hypotheticals in there for me to answer. Haven\'t done the Haskell yet, but my guess given the beaten lengths and ground is that she got back to her neg 4.
I may have robbed Rachel in the Mother Goose, too. It was an impossible figure to do-- 3 horse field, big margins which meant nobody was driven to the wire, two of them stopping after a fast pace, and running figures well off their tops. Last dirt race of the day, two grass races right in front of it-- 90 minutes between dirt races. I took a conservative route (effectively using average track speed for the day), but it easily could have been a couple of points faster. We\'ll never know.