To all that were lucky enough to witness her Horse of the Year run in 2009 consider yourself lucky. For those who were able to see her in person during that run consider yourself privileged. Well I guess i am both lucky and privileged. I saw her on television and in person twice, once at Belmont and once at the famed Saratoga Race Course. She electrified the crowd each time and her greatness was on display for the whole year.

It is something you dont get to see each year, a superstar racehorse that actually runs more than once every three months. Her connections, owner Jess Jackson and trainer Steve Asmussen had the Horse of the Year in 2007-2008 when CURLIN was named to that honor for the second year running. Jess Jackson is about the good of the horse and the good for the game of horse racing. Many owners would have sent CURLIN to the breeding shed after his three year old year, however Jackson knew he had a superstar and that the fans deserved to see him run. I had the privilege of seeing him run three times in 2008 and once in 2007.

As I sit here on a sunny Monday Morning, the day after the great RACHEL ALEXANDRA lost for the third time in five tries I am sad. Not because Rachel lost yesterday to a markedly inferior horse but because she is not what she once was. Her three year old season was a dream season and she was clearly the “Horse” of the year. She did things that you just don’t see horses do anymore. To win eight races at seven different racetracks, against the males, then against the older males, horses just don’t do that anymore. Not to take anything away from the great ZENYATTA but she has only left the state of California twice in her career and both times to run at Oaklawn Park.

There was talk that Rachel just wasn’t the same horse this year when she lost her first race out of the box by 3/4′s of length at the Fair Grounds. She wasn’t rushed into a race against ZENYATTA but then promptly lost her next start by a head at Churchill Downs. She followed that up with two huge wins against inferior competition and this was supposed to be her return to greatness in the Personal Ensign on August 29th at Saratoga. She was trying 1 and 1/4 miles for the first time and was facing a good horse in LIFE AT TEN but she wasn’t supposed to lose.

She came out of the gate running and was pressed early on by LIFE AT TEN through solid fractions but nothing that spectacular. They went to the 3/4 mark in 1:12 flat but then after that with a 3 and 1/2 length lead into the lane she couldn’t go on with it instead she gave it up late to PERSISTENTLY, a horse who finally won her NW2X condition after getting a perfect trip that day. The final time of the Personal Ensign was 2:04:2. That means the last half mile was run in 52:2 and the final quarter mile in just a shade under 27 seconds. Certainly not the mark of a Horse of the Year runner; she is clearly just not the same horse from 2009. I dont think we will ever see her back to that form again but at least we will have the memories.