My heart sank in my chest as I watched Zardana go by Rachel Alexandra in the New Orleans Ladies Stakes. It seemed improbable if not impossible. How could the filly that bested the boys in the Preakness, Haskell, and Woodward fall to a second stringer from California? I can observe two obvious reason.  Let’s analyze why the giant that is Rachel Alexandra fell in her 2010 debut.

• She just wasn’t ready. Steve Asmussen and Jess Jackson didn’t give her enough time to prepare. I’m not sure, but I believe she had just 4-5 works before this race. That is not nearly enough work for a filly that had been out of training for several months. You may recall that Asmussen wasn’t totally satisfied with her last breeze. The Eclipse Award winning trainer was quoted saying that it is his job to have her ready and he failed in that job. It’s a mistake I don’t think he will make ever again.
• Calvin Borel didn’t let her run. That wasn’t his fault though. The multiple Kentucky Derby winning jockey was instructed to wait until the latter stages of the race before getting after her. This could have been the difference in winning and losing.

Its not often in horse betting that a horse is bet down to 1-20 odds and runs second. I hope to see Rachel Alexandra come back better than ever. I won’t be surprised when she does and I expect her to do so. Don’t count this filly out after one bad race. The way people have hopped off her bandwagon reminds me of the “Rumble in the Jungle”. For those not familiar with boxing, Muhammad Ali was given 0 chance by pundits to beat undefeated heavyweight champ George Foreman in Zaire. Ali proved them all wrong and won the fight by KO. I’ve posted a cool video about the fight above. Ali wasn’t done; neither is Rachel Alexandra.

On a side note, Eskendereya is headed to Belmont Park for the Wood Memorial after taking the Fountain of Youth. The son of Giant’s Causeway is the early favorite for the Kentucky Derby. It will be nice to see how he handles the track. Belmont Stakes betting should be effected depending on how he fares. I think the Belmont Stakes will suit him very well given his pedigree.