News

Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra to race against Breeders Cup Classic winner Zenyatta in the $5 million Apple Blossom

It’s really going to happen.

Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra is set to face off against Breeders Cup Classic winner Zenyatta in the Apple Blossom Handicap on April 9 at Oaklawn Park. Both parties have signed off on the race. Charles Cella, owner of Oaklawn Park, has agreed to move the race back in order to allow both more time to get a prep race in before the big showdown. This will be the biggest race since Seabiscuit faced War Admiral at Pimlico Racecourse in 1938.

The race will take place the day before the Arkansas Derby. I’m so excited I can hardly type! I plan to be on site for the race come hell or high water. Zenyatta will prep next month at Santa Anita. Rachel Alexandra’s connections plan to race her in the middle of next month. I would imagine her comeback race will take place at Fair Grounds. I want to see both get a nice and easy prep before the Apple Blossom.

The racing on April 9-10 at Oaklawn Park is going to be electrifying. There are very few things in the racing world better than this.

“The race is a go,” a delighted Charles Cella told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. “Both parties have signed off on it. I feel like we’ve been through the ringer on this thing. Now, we’re really excited about it.

“This is truly a race for the ages.”

“I’ve never had so much trouble giving $5 million away,” Cella said. “We’ve got a solid commitment, assuming, of course, their health continues.”

Click here to read more!

Handicapping

Contentious field set to gather for Grade 2 Davona Dale Stakes

Davona Dale was a champion filly who raced for the storied Calumet Farm. The daughter of Best Turn won 11 of 18 starts. Her best victories came in the Kentucky Oaks, Coaching Club American Oaks, Acorn Stakes, and the Mother Goose Stakes. She was trained by John Veitch who also trained 1978 Travers Stakes winner Alydar. The Grade 2 Davona Dale Stakes is named in her honor. A solid field has gathered and any number of filles could take the top honors.

Bickersons is likely to be the favorite after freaking to a seven length victory in the Grade 2 Forward Gal Stakes last out. The daughter of Silver Deputy earned a 104 BRIS figure for that effort. She has performed well every time that Joe Bravo has has been in the irons. Conventional wisdom would suggests that she will regress in this spot. Her past performances show good efforts on the dirt, minus her debut over a sloppy track. She will be tough to take down if she runs back to her last race.

Dale Roman’s filly Sassy Image owns a win over the track and at this distance. She is riding a three race win streak. Two of those wins include the Grade 3 Pocahontas, and the Grade 2 Golden Rod. She has an adaptable running style. Jockey Robby Albarado should be able to lay fairly close if he chooses, or rally from the back of the pack. He might try to get first jump on the pacesetters before Bickersons is able to. I think this would be a smart decision.

Amen Hallelujah won the Grade 2 Santa Ynez in her last start, but got a tough break drawing the one hole in this race. Julien Leparoux will pick up the mount and he figures to try and take back in the early stages of the race. If she is able to come with one strong run for trainer Richard Dutrow and owner IEAH Stables she could find herself in the winners circle.

Christine Daae broke her maiden last out by 8 3/4 lengths for trainer Patrick Biancone. She is bred to run all day as a daughter of Giant’s Causeway and should do well at this distance of one mile. She sports a nice :59 2/5 B five furlong bullet. Corey Nakatani is in to ride from Oaklawn Park. The filly looks like quite a runner based off her last effort, but she will have to prove she can do it against winners.

Who do you like in the Davona Dale Stakes? Click here for information on how to get my horse racing picks and plays for this race and all the stakes action this weekend!

Information

Synthetic Tracks reviewed by Bill Finley for TDN Magazine

While browsing the news today I came across a piece by Bill Finley for TDN Magazine. It is titled “Ground Control: The (REAL) Truth about Synthetic Tracks”. Finley is a strong proponent of synthetic surfaces and he uses the article as a platform to dispel rumors about the surfaces. He makes good use of statistical figures and does a good job of reasoning that the tracks have saved the lives of horses. I can agree with Finley; to an extent.

What is good for me may not necessarily be good for you. Horses are much safer competing on Poly Track in a very cold place like Turfway Park. This may or may not be true for the same horses at Santa Anita, Keeneland, or Del Mar. It must be considered that the cold weather in Florence, KY makes dirt at Turfway Park less safe. Adding Poly Track there made perfect sense. People quickly jumped to conclusions after seeing a decline in injuries and fatalities at Turfway. I’ve listed below a few that I have problems with.

• Richard Shapiro acted hastily and without enough data and evidence when he mandated that all California tracks install a synthetic surface. I believe his heart was in the right place, but from a logical sense these tracks shouldn’t have been forced on California until more data was available.
• Tracks that quickly decided to install synthetic surfaces did not consider variables such as the cold weather at Turfway Park, and the fact that they run mostly cheap horses there. I’m not a veterinarian or a trainer, but I would think that cheap horses are more susceptible to injury in the first place.

I plan on going into this subject further when I have more time, but for now I would love to hear your thoughts on the topic. Click here to read Bill Finley’s article.

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