A Superstar, a Star in the Making, and a Star Losing His Light

jshandler — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 15:56:00 GMT

Breathtaking. Sensational. Poetry in motion.

New superlatives are becoming tough to find when describing superstar filly Rachel Alexandra. Her six-length romp in the Haskell against an overmatched group of 3-year-old colts that included the Belmont Stakes winner, Arkansas Derby winner and a talented graded stakes winning sprinter was nothing short of phenomenal.

Everything about it was awesome - the splits she ran, the ease in which she did it, and the final time of 1:47.21, which just missed Spend a Buck's track record. And it came on a sloppy track while being forced wide. Three-year-old fillies are just not supposed to be able to do these things.

What does it all mean? Well for one, she most likely locked up Horse of the Year honors, despite a full five months remaining in the season and not going to the Breeders' Cup, according to her owner Jess Jackson. It also means Rachel is well on her way to establishing herself as the greatest American 3-year-old filly in modern history. And if she wins the Travers and/or defeats older horses - and there is no reason to think she can't do both -- we might have to start talking about one of the greatest 3-year-old seasons by any horse, male or female, in a long time.

We have plenty of time to debate Rachel's place in history. That can come later. For now, we should all just enjoy what we are seeing, and look forward to what else she has in store for us. Folks, she is getting better. And the best part is, barring injury, we get to see her for at least 17 more months.

Nearly lost in Rachel's Haskell romp was the tremendous weekend it capped for trainer Steve Asmussen, who swept the major 3-year-old stakes by sending out Soul Warrior to a 23-1 upset in the West Virginia Derby and Kensei to an impressive score in the Jim Dandy. The latter, who happens to also be co-owned by Jess Jackson, is a star in the making.

Kensei has now notched consecutive grade II scores around two turns, and both of them have been eye-catching. The son of Mr. Greeley beat a solid field that included Warrior's Reward, Charitable Man and Convocation, with ease. He has all the looks of a horse who is rapidly improving, and at this point, with all the injuries to the nation's top 3-year-olds, Asmussen and Jackson might just have the second best sophomore in the country. Time will tell. Talk about an embarrassment of riches. I'm looking forward to seeing more from this colt, although, he will probably never meet Rachel.

Finally, there is Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird, who seems to be a star losing his light. Mine That Bird has now lost three straight races since winning the roses, and quite honestly, I'm getting a little tired of people making excuses for him.

First, it was, "He would have beat Rachel in the Preakness if the race was just a few yards longer." In the Belmont, people blamed Calvin Borel for a premature move. Now, Mike Smith and trainer Chip Woolley are saying Smith's ride and the 11-pound weight disparity cost him the West Virginia Derby.

The fact is, Mine That Bird is a good horse, not a great horse. He won the Derby and that should be respected, but he had every chance to win all three of those following races and came up short. This past weekend, he had the entire stretch to outduel a 23-1 allowance winner, and catch a game Big Drama, who set ambitious fractions. He could not.

Mine That Bird is a horse who needs a beneficial pace scenario, and most importantly, a perfectly-time move to win graded stakes races. He is one-dimensional. Let's face facts. He is good, hard-trying horse. Is he capable of winning another big race this season? Absolutely. But enough with the excuses.

What Did We Learn From Big Brown's Haskell?

jshandler — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 11:35:00 GMT

It is not often that a horse wins a $1 million grade I race and people still walk away scratching their heads.

Was it a good performance or not?

It is a difficult question to answer. Then again, we should not have expected anything less. From the very start, everything about Big Brown seems to be complicated.

On Sunday at Monmouth Park, Big Brown won the Haskell Invitational, as he collared front-running Coal Play inside the sixteenth-pole to win by 1 3/4 lengths. In one respect, Big Brown did exactly what his connections wanted him to do - rebound from his disappointment in the Belmont Stakes and restore his reputation.

On the other hand, it was not the visually impressive performance that many expected - including trainer Rick Dutrow Jr. - and it was far from a resounding win. In fact, the horse he struggled to beat, Coal Play, had only maiden and allowance wins to show for his eight-start career.

So, what did we learn?

For one, the most important thing is that Big Brown did what he had to do to continue his racing career. Had he come up empty down the stretch, as it appeared for a short while that he was going to do, there is a decent possibility that we would have seen the last of the dual classic winner. After hearing Mike Iavarone afterward, it seems fairly certain that Big Brown will race at least twice more before his career ends. In that respect, it was an important win.

Also, after looking at the replays several times, I give Big Brown a little more credit than I did while watching the race live. One must take into consideration that he was entering off a nearly two-month layoff and won despite coming off a last place finish in his most recent race, something no horse had ever done in the Haskell.

More importantly, after seeing the fractions and final time, it must be pointed out that Coal Play ran a terrific race. As stated above, Coal Play had done nothing prior to this race for people to say he was anything but an average 3-year-old. But you can take nothing away from the fact that he ran a :23 opening quarter, :46 2/5 half-mile, 1:10 4/5 for six furlongs and 1:35 mile. They are very solid splits. Anyone, let alone Big Brown, would have a difficult time running down a horse who runs those numbers. And the final time of 1:48.31 was respectable.

And while it was obvious that Coal Play was leg weary in that final furlong, give Big Brown a lot of credit for having the grit to run by him when he was obviously not at his best.

On the flip side of this debate, anyone who watched the Haskell could see that Big Brown did not have the same explosiveness that he showed in every one of his other races (save the Belmont, of course). Kent Desormeaux certainly did not have a "freak" under him, as he has in the past. He had a very good race horse that used his talent and experience to get the job done. And as all of know by now, he got the job done against a very average field.

So what did Big Brown's Haskell win really tell us? Other than it appears he has regressed a bit from the first half of the year, not much. I am going to need to see him run these final two races before I make my final judgment on him. I will also need to see what Coal Play does the rest of the year to really see who Big Brown beat.

The early rumors are that Iavarone will send him to either the Massachusetts Handicap or the Pennsylvania Derby (Wow, imagine Big Brown coming to Philly Park). But this won't be decided for a week or more. In the meantime, let's do what we do best - analyze this performance until we're blue in the face.

Breeders Cup Chat : Haskell

A Superstar, a Star in the Making, and a Star Losing His Light

What Did We Learn From Big Brown's Haskell?