3G Sports
#13 RACHEL ALEXANDRA 8/5 odds
Once in awhile, a horse runs a race in which you are mesmerized by the performance. You never forget where you were at the time. I watched the Oaks on a large screen television. Rachel Alexandra was attempting to win her fifth straight race. As the overwhelming 1-5 favorite, it was just a matter of how many lengths she would win by, against six other fillies that were way overmatched.
Trainer Bob Baffert, who saddled the second choice in the wagering, said a couple days before the race, “it would only be fair if Rachel Alexandra gave us a 1/16th of a mile head start, and maybe we would have chance to defeat her”. The head start would not have mattered, because she would have won anyway. Rachel’s margin of victory of 20 ¼ lengths was not what impressed me, as much as the way she did it. Prior to the race, I was in the paddock to observe all the fillies entered in the Oaks.
Even when Jockey Calvin Borel was hoisted into the saddle, he choose this horse over the Kentucky Derby Winner.
This horse can fly and I have no doubt she will cruise to victory over this weak field of boys.
Jockey Calvin Borel is five for five on Rachel. His confidence is definitely in another stratosphere at the present time. When jockeys are in this kind of zone, horses know it. Rachel is fully aware of this. When you add up all the ingredients, it will take a big performance by her foes on Preakness day to upend a potential superstar. Her rival trainers know it, and so do all the others, who have witnessed Rachel Alexandra’s recent triumphs.
Rachel Alexandra, has never lost when she has the lead at the top of the stretch. Her race will be won or lost midway on the far turn, when Borel makes his move. If she can bust the race open at that point, I expect the rest of the field to be running for second money. If Rachel is unable to go by, and has to work hard to pass the front runner, this will be the moment of truth, as to whether or not she is as good as I think she is.
PLAY HER TO WIN and PLACE