They’re, with out query, the 2 finest fillies to race on dust on this century.
They probably would each seem on a High 10 checklist of North America’s all-time best fillies or mares.
Their mixed assortment of wins consists of such prestigious Grade 1 stakes because the Breeders’ Cup Basic, Preakness Stakes, Haskell Stakes, Breeders’ Cup Distaff and Kentucky Oaks.
They completed 1-2 within the balloting for 2009 Horse of the Years honors.
For 2 years, in 2009 and 2010, they represented the East and West and had been the central figures within the sport’s most intense rivalry in a long time.
But not even as soon as did Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta share the identical beginning gate, nor did they ever compete in a race that may have definitely turn into one of the well-known showdowns within the sport’s lengthy historical past.
It was “The Rivalry That By no means Was.”
“It was a really, very particular time,” mentioned Jerry Moss, who died in August 2023. Moss owned Zenyatta alongside together with his second spouse, Ann. “I haven’t seen the rest like what we noticed in these years and the curiosity these two horses created. We all the time thought Zenyatta would face Rachel Alexandra however sadly [they] by no means did.”
In 2016, Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta entered the Racing Corridor of Fame collectively on the in the future when the rabid followers of each nice champions lastly acquired to share widespread floor, and the connections of the horses strolled down reminiscence lane to an unforgettable time for them and the game.
“A extremely emotional day,” mentioned Barbara Banke, the widow of Jess Jackson, who purchased controlling curiosity in Rachel Alexandra for his Stonestreet Stables after her superb 20 ¼-length victory within the 2009 Kentucky Oaks. “It was a good time for us when ‘Rachel’ was racing.”
For the entire arguments the 2 horses sparked, there’s absolutely no debate about their credentials being worthy of the Corridor of Fame.
In a profession that began in November 2007 and lasted by 2010, Zenyatta was virtually excellent. Primarily based in California, she earned $7.3 million and captured the creativeness of racing followers by reeling off a mind-boggling 19 straight wins earlier than she suffered a heart-breaking loss by a head within the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Basic at Churchill Downs in her closing begin. A yr earlier, the daughter of Road Cry captured the 2009 Breeders’ Cup Basic and her 13 Grade 1 wins included the Vainness and Girl’s Secret Stakes thrice and Clement L. Hirsch and Apple Blossom twice (she additionally gained the Hirsch as soon as when it was a Grade 2 stakes) and the 2008 Breeders’ Cup Distaff (identified then because the Women’ Basic).
“Whenever you understand how troublesome it’s to win two or three races in a row, it’s actually one thing what Zenyatta did,” mentioned jockey Mike Smith, who rode Zenyatta in all however her first three begins. “Whenever you get previous 5, it’s superb. In her case, she was 19-for-19! All the things about her was particular. She’s primary amongst fillies for me. How might she not be?”
Rachel Alexandra gained solely three of six begins at 2, however she blossomed the next yr and assembled pretty much as good of a 3-year-old marketing campaign as any filly has ever loved.
In successful all eight of her 2009 begins, she obliterated her competitors within the Kentucky Oaks after which, after Jackson bought her, she grew to become the primary filly in 85 years to win the Preakness. She went on to seize the Mom Goose Stakes by 19 ¼ lengths earlier than closing out the yr with a victory within the Haskell over 3-year-old males, together with Belmont Stakes winner Summer season Hen, adopted by a dramatic win towards older males within the Grade 1 Woodward Stakes at Saratoga.
“Rachel Alexandra nonetheless has a particularly passionate fan base, and I believe deservedly so,” mentioned Steve Asmussen, who grew to become the filly’s coach after Jackson bought her. “She exuded qualities that all of us admire. There was an incredible quantity of curiosity in something you probably did along with her, from the smallest of exercises, to a breeze, to race day. Every single day introduced out an amazing quantity of pleasure to be round her. I used to be all the time amazed at how folks wished to put their eyes her.”
Named Horse of the 12 months for 2009, the Jap-based daughter of Medaglia d’Oro gained 13 of 19 profession begins, with 5 runner-up finishes, and earned $3.5 million.
“I imagine it is going to be laborious to match,” Banke mentioned concerning the Stonestreet filly’s 3-year-old marketing campaign. “Going into the Triple Crown, going into races towards boys within the Haskell and older males within the Woodward. Who does that? It was a marketing campaign for the ages.”
But for the entire parallel roads they traveled, their paths by no means crossed. It was a glitch that did little to quell the wild passions of fan bases that had been as devoted as those for the New York Yankees and Boston Pink Sox – and would feud simply as passionately as those that root for the 2 Main League Baseball arch-rivals.
Although Twitter (now X) was in its infancy, the web had turn into the trend again then and it produced a rivalry not like something horse racing had ever seen earlier than. With every 2009 victory by one of many horses, extra followers jumped on the bandwagon and the divide between the 2 camps grew wider.
Their battleground grew to become message boards and even the feedback sections underneath tales on one or each of the horses, and at occasions the bickering grew to become fairly heated and ugly.
“With most of my columns, if I acquired over a 100 feedback, that was quite a bit,” mentioned Steve Haskin, senior correspondent for BloodHorse. “However with Zenyatta and ‘Rachel,’ if I acquired 350 that was slightly. I can keep in mind tales with 700 feedback or extra, and it acquired fairly nasty typically. We’ve by no means seen something prefer it in horse racing. In case you mentioned one thing good about ‘Rachel,’ the Zenyatta followers would get throughout you; and if you happen to praised Zenyatta, the ‘Rachel’ followers blasted you. It was superb. Individuals had been so opinionated. You bought vilified by folks on the alternative facet, which was uncommon for racing.
“Social media substitutes for fan golf equipment and folks get nearer to the horses by it. Had Twitter been widespread then, I’d have been reluctant to Tweet about both of them. You wouldn’t know what’s going to return out of the woodwork. You could possibly say one thing constructive, however folks had been so emotionally charged that some may understand it as a adverse remark and also you’ll have 100 folks leaping down your throat. Throughout the Horse of the 12 months voting in 2009, if you happen to got here out and made a degree on behalf of considered one of them, you had been the satan to the opposite facet.”
Whereas the connections of each horses say they had been spared the wrath of opposing followers in public, they had been shocked at occasions by the tone of the web bantering.
“I’ve by no means seen a response like that from followers,” Banke mentioned. “A few of it was nice and a few it, nicely, was slightly imply on either side. There have been positively lots of people within the two fillies, questioning who was higher, what would occur in the event that they met, and all of that. … It was actually one thing.
“I’ve met a whole lot of ‘Rachel’ followers over time. I’ve even seen ‘Rachel’ tattoos. By no means met anybody with a Zenyatta tattoo, however I’m certain there’s one on the market.”
Why was there such fervent curiosity within the two horses? A fascination with a comparatively new type of media performed a job. So did the East vs. West divide. But past that, it was the standard and charisma of the champions that made them rock stars.
“In the long term, I imagine Rachel Alexandra will probably be remembered for her superb brilliance on the monitor and for being one of the sensible fillies of all-time. Zenyatta will probably be remembered for what she stood for off the monitor, much more than on the monitor,” Haskin mentioned. “No horse in my lifetime affected folks the best way Zenyatta did. Individuals advised me how Zenyatta modified their lives. Individuals with debilitating or terminal sicknesses mentioned all they wished to do was see Zenyatta in individual earlier than they died. Some even declare it was Zenyatta that helped them recuperate. It was non secular, like one thing from Billy Graham.”
The most important dust-up got here late in 2009 when Horse of the 12 months was certainly a two-horse race between Stonestreet’s fleet 3-year-old filly and the Mosses’ stretch-running 5-year-old mare, educated by John Shirreffs.
Each had been undefeated in 2009 however Rachel Alexandra didn’t race after the Woodward on Sept. 5 as Jackson refused to run her within the Breeders’ Cup as a result of it was contested on an artificial floor at Santa Anita. In her absence, Zenyatta grew to become the primary – and solely – filly or mare to beat males within the Breeders’ Cup Basic, the nation’s richest race.
Afterward, there was a motion amongst some Eclipse Award voters to permit break up ballots so {that a} vote could possibly be forged for each Distaff stars, but it surely failed to achieve the wanted momentum.
In the long run, Rachel Alexandra carried all three voting blocs and defeated Zenyatta, 130-99, to turn into the primary 3-year-old filly to earn Horse of the 12 months honors within the Eclipse period.
A yr later, when Zenyatta suffered a loss to Blame in her closing begin, she was voted Horse of the 12 months.
“Once we gained the Breeders’ Cup Basic and weren’t voted Horse of the 12 months, I mentioned ‘what do it’s a must to do to get slightly discover?’ ” Moss mentioned. “Then we misplaced by 4 inches [in the BC Classic] however she was named Horse of the 12 months. To a sure extent we had been comfortable it ended that approach and I believe your entire business was comfortable it occurred that approach. She deserved it.”
Rachel Alexandra’s victory over Zenyatta on the poll field solely heightened the demand for the 2 horses to race and people fervent hopes appeared destined to be fulfilled when Oaklawn Park supplied a $5 million purse if the 2 tangled within the Apple Blossom on April 9, 2010.
Each camps agreed to run within the race and resorts rooms in Scorching Springs, Ark., had been stuffed in a snap for that weekend.
But it surely by no means occurred.
The trials of her 3-year-old marketing campaign caught up with Rachel Alexandra in 2010 and in her 4-year-old debut she suffered a shocking defeat by the hands of Zardana, a stablemate of Zenyatta, within the New Orleans Women Stakes at Honest Grounds. The next day, it was introduced she wouldn’t run within the Apple Blossom.
“Rachel Alexandra wasn’t at her finest within the New Orleans and Zardana beat her,” Smith mentioned. “That was Zenyatta’s workmate. I used to present huge head begins to her and blow by her on Zenyatta.”
With the purse decreased to $500,000, Zenyatta ran within the Apple Blossom Handicap and prevailed by 4 ¼ lengths. Because the yr progressed, Zenyatta continued her successful methods till the Breeders’ Cup, whereas Rachel Alexandra struggled and was retired after squandering a 3 ½-length lead on the eighth pole and ending second within the Grade 1 Private Ensign Stakes at Saratoga. She completed the yr with two wins and three seconds in 5 begins.
“Rachel Alexandra was by no means the identical at 4,” Haskin mentioned. “One thing occurred to her over the winter. She simply misplaced it. Steve Asmussen was placing all totally different sorts of bits on her as a result of she was working along with her head cocked. She had just a few transient moments of glory at 4 however she acquired beat by fillies she by no means ought to have gotten beat by. However at 3, my goodness. The Woodward simply gutted her and the 2 horses that made her run so laborious, Macho Once more and Bullsbay, had been by no means the identical after that, both.”
Rachel Alexandra’s retirement ended hopes that the 2 Queens of the racing world would meet in that yr’s Breeders’ Cup at Churchill Downs. But, in hindsight, a race between two horses with numerous working most likely would have achieved little to settle the problem of 1’s superiority over the opposite.
“We noticed what occurred with Affirmed and Alydar,” Haskin mentioned. “They’d two contrasting working kinds and Affirmed had a tactical benefit, which is why Affirmed gained the overwhelming majority of the races. In case you’re going to have a rivalry between horses, it’s finest that they’ve the identical working fashion, however you not often see that. A number of rivalries had been nice whereas they lasted, however they didn’t show who was the higher horse. In a small discipline, if ‘Rachel’ acquired unfastened on the lead, I don’t know if Zenyatta might come from that far again and beat a filly like ‘Rachel.’ In the long run, you have a look at their accomplishments, ‘Rachel’ along with her whole domination and quick occasions and big margins and Zenyatta along with her explosive, dramatic stretch runs. You respect their place in historical past.”
For a few of the connections, there are not any regrets that destiny didn’t permit the 2 superstars to sq. off.
“Individuals will all the time speak about what would have occurred in the event that they raced, however we’ll by no means know the reality,” Smith mentioned. “It was the best rivalry that by no means occurred. Either side have their opinion on who would have gained. In some bizarre approach, it might have been nice to see them race, however I’m glad they didn’t. Why make one higher than the opposite? They had been every unimaginable for the sport.”
And typically, there’s nothing flawed in any respect with having that lingering query which guarantees to maintain the reminiscence of two fabulous fillies contemporary within the minds of the individuals who adored them.
“It’s higher that they didn’t race for the legacy,” Banke mentioned. “You all the time marvel ‘what if?’ and it retains the thriller alive.”
The thriller and the rivalry, too.
The rivalry that by no means was.
Notice: This story was initially printed in August 2016 and has been up to date.
