Rachel Alexandra will not be entered into Saturday's $1 million Travers Stakes against her sophmore male counterparts, but will instead take on the older horses in the Sept. 5 Woodward Stakes at Saratoga according to a post this morning on drf.com.
The announcement was made Monday morning after Rachel Alexandra worked six furlongs in 1.11.84 on a sloppy main track at Saratoga. Earlier on the worktab, her stablemate Kensie worked five furlongs in 50 seconds while preparing for the Travers. Somewhat ironically, it may be Dwyer and Jim Dandy Stakes winner Kensei, also owned by Rachel Alexandra's owner Jess Jackson, who is keeping Rachel out of the Travers.
Not that Asmussen, Jackson or the man in the moon for that matter, think Kensei may upset Rachel Alexandra in the Travers. But Asmussen indicated that he feels Kensei deserves a chance to win the Travers without Rachel. "Off of discussions with Jess and how well Kensei is doing we felt that he deserved a chance in the Travers," Asmussen said.
How sporting.
Instead Rachel Alexandra will try to now conquer the likes of Asiatic Boy, Bullsbay, Cool Coal Man, Da' Tara, and It's a Bird in the grade 1 Woodward. New York Racing Association also announced that the purse of the Woodward would be raised from $500,000 to $750,000 if Rachel should start.
An eight-horse field is now expected for the Travers including Charitable Man (Ramon Dominguez); Hold Me Back (Julien Leparoux), Kensei (Edgar Prado), Mine That Bird (Mike Smith), Our Edge (Alan Garcia) Quality Road (John Velazquez), Summer Bird (Kent Desormeaux), and Warrior's Reward (Calvin Borel).
1 comment:
The Woodward will be a tougher spot for Rachel Alexandra than the Travers. She already proved she can handle the best 3 year colts in the Preakness but if she can beat older horses in the Woodward it would be extremely impressive. Perhaps Jess Jackson really is a sportsman.
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