Rachel vs Zenyatta Eminent

[opkid]

I live in Hot Springs, Arkansas and consider myself extremely lucky to be at the Superbowl for fillies. The Hot Springs newspaper today announced that at 10:00 am Thursday morning that a major announcement will be made regarding an historic horse race. The Apple Blossom will most likely pitt Rachel vs. Zenyatta in early April I believe. The partys concerned at Oaklawn Park are \"sworn to secrecy\", but they claim this will be the biggest stakes race in the 106 year history of Oaklawn Park. Calvin Borel claims to have no inside info concerning the match-up. The announcement at the Post Parade Room is by invitation only. I wonder what it could be. Go Rachel.

[shanahan]

e-mail me, I am there this wkend - lets compare notes...

[Silver Charm]

There are rumors of a BIG Purse spike if Z shows, Rachels shows, and they both show. Oaklawn at least gets the PR of they tried to pull it off, off their back.

Zenyatta gets the benefit of saying we came east, raced on dirt and where was Rachel. The shoe was on the other foot most of last year.

This is 60 days away and Rachel will not be ready.

[shanahan]

if it happens, and anyone wants to attend, I will have the boat ready on Lake Hamilton for a pre-day race cruise and happy to host all TG folks...especially those who don\'t acknowledge that the Derby winner may be on the grounds!

Seriously, it\'s great fun there...let me know.  Good luck to all in between...

[bobphilo]

Silver Charm Wrote:
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 > This is 60 days away and Rachel will not be ready.

A Zenyatta/Rachel Alexandra match-up could indeed be a \"race for the ages\" but
I\'m not sure the timing is right for Rachel. After her grueling Woodward win
last Sept, Jess Jackson took her out of training for a long rest and said that,
unlike her 2009 campaign when she peaked in early spring, plans to bring her
along more slowly in 2010 and have her peak for the next Breeder\'s Cup. As per
the plan, she just had her first light breeze.
Zenyatta, though officially retired after her Breeder\'s Cup Classic win, has
actually remained in training.

As Jackson wants Rachel to be at her peak when she meets Zenyatta, I\'m thinking
the early April date of the Apple Blossom would give Zenyatta the condition edge
and Jackson would not be tempted to run his filly against her rival then,
regardless of how much Oaklawn raises the purse.

Bob

[joekay]

Forget the figs, if they run at OP, AND there is some other speed in the race, I\'m picking \"Z\".  She loves that track, and will blow by the field.  Let\'s hope they both come in on top of their game.

[Flighted Iron]

I\'m willing to wager 2 things heavily.
1.not happening at oaklawn
2.if and when it does happen Z will blow by the field,just won\'t blow by Rachel

[ronwar]

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/55201/5-million-lure-to-get-rachel-zenyatta

[nyc1347]

if i was the owners of the horses i wouldnt care one bit at this point if my horse was in top shape or not. you train and try your hardest and whoever wins, wins.  the biggest idea is that theres nothing stopping them from running against each other again sometime in the near future thereafter especially with bc day being out east at churchill.  i dont get the big deal, it will happen sometime this year and most likely multiple times.  to both owners, go to oaklawn,  TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN!

[Silver Charm]

A MONEY race. This is sick....

[bobphilo]

ronwar Wrote:
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> http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/55
> 201/5-million-lure-to-get-rachel-zenyatta

Apparently both owners seem interested. However, Jackson wisely has left himself a very big option out when he says \"If she is in top form and it fits in our schedule, we will be there\". As suspected, Rachel\'s condition relative to Zenyatta\'s will be the deciding factor.

Bob

[richiebee]

Just my opinion, but Cella and Racing missed the boat here.

The race should have been the Oaklawn Handicap, and the purse should have been
whatever it takes to make it the richest race in the US, higher than the BC
Classic.

The connections of both Zen and RA have already shown their willingness to take
on males, and their runners have fared quite nicely thank you.

I am probably in the minority, but the prospect of a virtual match race between
the two superstars, with a field of lightly weighted competition (probably so
lightly weighted that none of the better American riders can make the weight)
does not hold much intrigue for me.

[SoCalMan2]

richiebee Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Just my opinion, but Cella and Racing missed the
> boat here.
>
> The race should have been the Oaklawn Handicap,
> and the purse should have been
> whatever it takes to make it the richest race in
> the US, higher than the BC
> Classic.
>
> The connections of both Zen and RA have already
> shown their willingness to take
> on males, and their runners have fared quite
> nicely thank you.
>
> I am probably in the minority, but the prospect of
> a virtual match race between
> the two superstars, with a field of lightly
> weighted competition (probably so
> lightly weighted that none of the better American
> riders can make the weight)
> does not hold much intrigue for me.


I agree with Richiebee here.  If this were an open handicap, it could be an extremely intriguing race....would be interesting to see the weight assignments for a race like that.  30 years ago and more, the DRF regularly prominently featured major handicap weight assignments and there was a ton of good discussion about the weights.  I miss those days.  For a period of time, NY used to have a rule that the highweight had to carry 126 or more and that also led to interesting assignments....nowadays, handicaps are barely even handicaps.  I wonder why they cannot go back to requiring that highweights carry at least 126 lbs?

[SoCalMan2]

It looks to me like the Apple Blossom is not going to be the race because Rachel Alexandra will not be ready yet (and I do not think you can begrudge her connections who probably would have planned things differently if they knew back in November/December that Zenyatta was going to race this year).

Everybody seems to be very excited about Oaklawn as the venue.  Both fillies/mares like the surface, it is unequivocally a traditional dirt surface, there is none of the detention barn issues that plague a race in NY, I could go on....my point is that it would be a shame if the match up cannot happen at Oaklawn because the meet ends before it can happen.  My question is why cant Oaklawn get permission for one extra saturday of racing a little later in the year.  If Monmouth can create a special race for Big Brown, why can\'t Oaklawn do the same for one of the most anticipating match ups of most of our lifetimes? Make it open to all comers, encourage Euros and southern hemisphere horse to give it a shot...make a world renown panel of handicappers responsible for making the weight assignments.  This could be a real special event that puts horseracing back on the map.  Maybe have it coincide with something like the Belmont....imagine a horse going for the triple crown followed 45 minutes later by the greatest handicap of all time!  I am feeling euphoric just imaging it.  Also, if both are still in form by breeders cup, imagine the sensation that the breeders cup rematch will feel like!!?!  I haven\'t felt this much excitement since Ali-Frazier (although I confess I still cannot watch the Ali-Norton, Yankee Stadium fight without crying because of the greatness of it -- but same is true of Secretariat\'s Belmont).

[nyc1347]

maybe they should hold it in NY so none of us can watch it!!   =D   or why dont we switch the race to turf and run backwards.. this is out of control! my money would be on MOOOOOOOON TOWN though!  =D