Ladies and Gentlemen we have our Horse of the Year, and it’s not even close. In a race filled with drama, emotion and exceptional speed two things set it and its combatant’s apart, courage and heart.
Calvin Borel had often said he hadn’t gotten to the bottom of her followed by “it might be scary”. Although Saturday’s race wasn’t scary it was historic. Rachel Alexander proved she is a horse to be remembered with and compared to the greats of Thoroughbred racing. You might notice I didn’t say filly I said horse; Rachel has transcended from the filly ranks and now must be compared with history’s greatest horses.
What a woman, facing older males for the first time in the Woodward no less, at the “Graveyard of Champions” would be a daunting task for any colt much less a filly. Yet she showed something which sets her apart from all but a few horses that have ever set a hoof upon a race track. We all knew she has amazing speed, we knew she ran like a hurricane wind, what we didn’t know was how much heart she possesses. She showed us.
They could have gone around twice and it wouldn’t have mattered she wasn’t going to let Macho Again by. After the race Calvin said “She was never going to let him get by her,” every time he ran up to her, she dug in. She’s a tremendous filly. He ran up to me about three times in the lane and every time she gave me a little more run.”
I have read detractors writings regarding a weight advantage she possessed and to these individuals I would like to introduce an apparently “new” term, called handicapping. You see three year olds get a weight advantage when facing older horses, and fillies do as well when running against the boys. I realize you the reader know and understand that but apparently there are some who wish to throw out the rules to suit their own wants. These are probably the same crybabies who when Curlin carried as much as 15lbs above the rest of the field and yet still won declared that he “wasn’t the same horse".
A lot of people have been clamoring for a race against Zenyatta and I admit I've been one of them, but as of now Zenyatta is an afterthought. Rachel's already won the Horse of the Year it's just a matter of formality.
