by Marcus Hersh of DRF.com

Tight schedule adds a hurdle for Rachel
HORSE RACING - As any handicapper knows by now, Daily Racing Form keeps detailed trainer statistics. First-time starters, claimers, blinkers on, so on and so forth. The shorthand for one category is +180 Days - that is, win percentage with horses returning from a layoff of a half-year or longer. Steve Asmussen bats .170 in +180 Days, a good, solid mark.

Just last weekend, on March 7, an Asmussen-trained filly named Songtress made her first start in more than 20 months and won an allowance race by almost three lengths. This weekend, the spotlight shines ever so brightly on Asmussen's skill at readying a horse after a long layoff, with Rachel Alexandra set to make her first start since the Sept. 5 Woodward Stakes on Saturday at Fair Grounds in the New Orleans Ladies.

When Rachel Alexandra heads to the paddock for Saturday's 1 1/16-mile race, 189 days will have passed since the Woodward. That's plenty of time to prepare a horse to run, especially one who went out of action without an injury. But Rachel's connections gave her plenty of rest and recovery after an arduous 3-year-old campaign, and then encountered roadblocks in the form of bad weather once Rachel resumed training.

With Songtress, who began prepping for her comeback at training centers before even returning to the racetrack, Asmussen could tinker and take his time. The same formula might have been employed with Rachel Alexendra, until Zenyatta and the Apple Blossom popped into the picture. On Jan. 16, Jerry and Ann Moss, owners of Zenyatta, runner-up to Rachel Alexandra in 2009 Horse of the Year voting, officially unretired their champion mare.

On Feb. 4, Oaklawn Park announced that the April 3 Apple Blossom would be changed from a stakes to an invitational and would offer a $5 million purse if Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta were to start. Late on Feb. 10, Jess Jackson, Rachel Alexandra's majority owner, issued a press release saying that the Apple Blossom came up too soon for Rachel Alexandra to be properly readied.

The next day, the $5 million race was back on, rescheduled for April 9. Rachel Alexandra had a major target. And at the time of the announcement, she had all of two timed workouts. To find an analogy for Rachel Alexandra's post-Woodward September, think NFL off-season.

Rachel had battle fatigue. She had raced eight times in 2009, starting Feb. 15 and going steadily through the Woodward. Not only that, Rachel Alexandra had been in racetrack training for a solid year. She had run hard, and she had lost weight.

next news story | home