My Thoughts on the Preakness – Rachel Alexandra vs The Boys
Posted May 16th, 2009 by adminI will admit that I put some money on Rachel Alexandra…to place. It’s not that I don’t want her to win and make the “fairy tale” come true…and I have the utmost confidence in Calvin Borel but I’m just not a “win” better. There simply are a million things that can happen in a race and hundreds of things that can go wrong. I just hope that everyone has a good trip and that we get a fair run on these remarkable athletes. There are just so many other great horses running in the Preakness today.
Pioneer of the Nile has a shot at it I do believe and he is one of my picks just because I think he’s a great horse. If I had the money and felt confident in betting on such contentious races I would probably box a exacta between Pioneer of the Nile and Rachel Alexandra…I would want Rachel Alexandra to blow away the field, of course, so I could see history in the making and give the filly her due respect…and fillies in general.
Now…everyone is almost writing off Mine that Bird but I would probably count him on being there in the end somewhere. The Derby proved that he does have what it takes to go the distance and is in the proper condition to have plenty of gas in the tank at the end. If you get a chance to see the replay of the Derby from an overhead shot you will see this horse absolutely take off like a Ferrari when Calvin asked him to. No, Calvin isn’t riding him today but Mike Smith definately is a world class jockey and that is why I count Mine That Bird in as part of a good solid trifecta. He has shown what he’s got and this horse has a lot to offer and Mike is the guy to get the best of out him…
I think if I were to want to play the Superfecta I would put Papa Clem in there somewhere also. He was another horse that I really liked for the Derby so I wouldn’t count him out.
One thing I’ve noticed about Rachel Alexandra from looking at her and Calvin’s performance at The Oaks and comparing that to a couple of other races is that she seems to run faster if she isn’t whipped. Now, I am not opposed to a jockey whipping a horse. I don’t believe that it’s the same as whipping a human or something like that and I see the value in whipping with the right horse….but it’s rare to see a horse destroy a field like Rachel Alexandra did at the Oaks and Calvin didn’t touch her…the two or three other races that I saw he did use the whip…she still won but not by 20 1/4 lengths….just some food for thought and I could be wrong but I think that Calvin has this filly figured out and I wish her and him all the best today at the Preakness.
We’ll see how it all plays out but I do believe that we may see history being made today in Maryland. And as much as I love to be right and how much I enjoy winning, I wish more than anything that all the horses and jockeys arrive at the finish safe and sound…safety above all else…
Tags: exacta, jockey, jockeys, jockies, mike smith, mine that bird, papa clem, pioneer of the nile, place, preakness picks, preakness stakes, rachel alexandra, superfecta, trifecta, win
One Response to “My Thoughts on the Preakness – Rachel Alexandra vs The Boys”
May 16th, 2009 at 9:13 pm
Well…it looks like I was a bit right and a bit wrong. I’m glad that the filly won and hope that it brings more positive attention to the sport of horse racing. Yes, I made a nice profit from her win and wish now that I had bet the exacta…and I’m glad that Mine That Bird was there in the end and hope that his crew and Calvin feel a little validated. Sometimes it’s the little guys that are overlooked because they don’t have the money…but sometimes the little guys have the best horse and not necessarily the money or name to stick behind a horse.
One thing I noticed that might be nothing and might be something. If you check out Rachel Alexandra when they brought her out for the parade they had her mane all done up the same as Curlin’s often was…I don’t know if this is a signature thing for Steve Asmussen or just something that their groom does but when I first saw this I thought “Oh no…this isn’t good”…call me crazy but I personally wouldn’t have changed something like that after Rachel Alexandra had gone through so many changes over the past two weeks…new barn…new owner..new food…new trainer etc…I don’t know for sure but I think that they might have tried to take some of the braiding out before Calvin got his “let up” since it only looked like about 1/3 of her mane was braided…also, I think that her leg wraps were different than I had seen in the past…just a couple of little things that I notice that may be nothing or may be something.
I think we’ll see in three weeks what she’s hooked up like and I’d love to see her and Mine That Bird do a repeat of the Preakness. What a wonderful dynomite duo!!
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