Louisiana Challengers Lining Up Against Rachel Alexandra

Challengers are lining up to take on Rachel Alexandra when she makes her seasonal debut in the $200,000 Ladies Classic at Fair Grounds in New Orleans in less than two weeks. The Ladies Classic will be the first start of 2010 for the Horse of the Year and will be used to prepare for a possible race against the undefeated Zenyatta in the $5 million Apple Blossom Stakes at Oaklawn Park April 9.

According to fairgroundsracecourse.com, possible contenders include stablemates of both Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra. Trainer John Sherriffs is considering sending from California Bayakoa Handicap (gr. 2) winner Zardana while Steve Asmussen may enter Pleasantly Blessed, a recent second-place finisher in the $50,000 Jersey Lilly Stakes at Sam Houston in Texas.

The local contingent seems plenty ready to meet the challenge as well with local stakes winners Clear Sailing and Double Espresso and locally stakes placed Fighter Wing and Unforgotten apparently scheduled to run as well.

Clear Sailing appears to have the best credentials coming off of a victory in the $60,000 Pelleteri Stakes at Fairgrounds over Fighter Wing and undefeated in three starts in New Orleans this winter. Double Espresso won the six furlong Pan Zareta Stakes Feb. 20 at Fair Grounds and will be stretching out to make the 1-1/16 mile distance of the Ladies Classic.

Asmussen sent Rachel Alexandra to the track Tuesday morning for a private work at 10:30 along side workmate Depaul. While the final time of the six furlong work was slow at 1:13.60, Asmussen did not appear to be troubled following the work, telling media "it was how fast [Depaul] was, and us wanting to keep her off of [him]."

According to Daily Racing Form reports, Rachel began the work some five lengths behind Depaul and was heavily restrained throughout the early part of the exercise before being allowed to stride out and easily pass Depaul. Rachel Alexandra's final quarter was significantly faster than the last. She started the first quarter of a mile in 25.60 seconds but ran the last quarter of the work in 22.60 seconds.

Backtalk Back On Derby Trail
A few of The Brock Talk favorites hit the winner's circle this past weekend with Backtalk winning the Sportman's Paradise at Delta Downs and Presious Passion taking the $150,000 Mac Diarmida Stakes (gr. IIT) at Gulfstream Park Sunday.

Admittedly, we stumbled upon Backtalk (photo below) when we posted an update on young sire Speedy Jones' breeding career. Backtalk had just become the first winner of his class for the young sire but then followed up with a nice juvenile career that included wins in the grade 3 Bashford Mandor at Churchill Downs and the grade 2 Sanford at Saratoga. He stumbled late in the year with a fourth in the Hopeful (gr. 1) behind Dublin, Aspire and Aikenite and a sub-par race in the Dixiana Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland in October.

The Sportman's Paradise is not your typical prep race for the Triple Crown, but following the victory, trainer Tom Amoss said the next start for Backtalk will likely be a step up and into a major prep. Although Amoss did not speculate on a race, the grade 2 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park or the grade 3 Tampa Bay Derby both will be run March 13 before the Florida Derby (gr. 1), and the Swale Stakes (gr. 2) fall on the following week at Gulfstream Park.

Presious Prevails While Life Is Sweeter in Dubai
Presious Passion made a successful preperation for his planned trip to the Middle East with his win in the 1-3/8 Mac Diarmida for the second consecutive year. Add that to the United Nations (gr. 1T) at Monmouth Park and the W.L. McKnight Stakes (gr. 2T) on the list of races that Presious Passion has won twice. A notable accomplishment to say the least.

Trainer Mary Hartman said plans are to send Presious Passion to Dubai for the $5 million Sheema Classic (gr. 1UAE) at 1-1/2 miles at Meydan Race Course March 27.

In another significant Dubai development, Breeders' Cup Ladies Classic (gr. 1) winner Life Is Sweet appears headed to the $10 million Dubai World Classic where she may face the likes of Champion Turf Horse Gio Ponti, two-time Japanese Horse of the Year Vodka, Pacific Classic (gr. 1) and San Antonio Handicap winner Richard's Kid and Breeders' Cup Classic third Twice Over.

Life Is Sweet, a 5-year-old stablemate of Zenyatta's in the John Sherriffs barn, should have no trouble running against the boys having finished third against males in the grade 1 Hollywood Gold Cup last summer, just over seven lengths behind winner Rail Trip.

Ladies Still Classic With Jewels, Music And The Beach

Now that it's official that super mare Zenyatta is running in the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic on Saturday, one might think the Ladies Classic will be compromised in popularity. Certainly fewer fans will tune in to watch the Friday card on ESPN now that Zenyatta has decided to take on her male counterparts, but I still have the Ladies Classic ranked among my most anticipated of the weekend.

Morning line favorite Music Note (photo) has won seven of her 11 career starts and hasn't started outside a grade 1 race since the weekend Big Brown won the Preakness last May. She's the best of the New York mares having demolished her competition in the grade 1 Ballerina and grade 1 Beldame in her last two starts and may have given Zenyatta a run for her money if she had entered the Ladies Classic. She is trained by Saeed bin Suroor for the powerful Goldolfin Stables, who will also start Cocoa Beach in the Ladies Classic.

There are storylines galore in Ladies Classic with close second choice Careless Jewel going for her sixth straight win and the John Sherriffs-trained Life is Sweet trying to take advantage of her neighbor (Zenyatta) staying in the barn on race day for a change.

Fans of the very popular Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel have plenty reasons to not miss the Ladies Classic as well. Frankel has been absent from his barn for months battling health challenges that hasn't stopped him sending his usual arsenal to the Breeders' Cup.

Proviso will be saddled by Frankel assistants Humberto Ascanio and Sally Lundy in the Ladies Classic and comes into this race off of a victory in the grade 1 Spinster Stakes at Keeneland. She was disqualified from her Spinster win and placed second for inteference in the stretch but was still impressive considering it was her first start in the United States and she acheived a 99 Beyer speed figure in the performance.

After finishing as the runner-up to Zenyatta in this race last year, Cocoa Beach has never quite returned to her top form and has been relegated to second string status in the bin Suroor barn behind Music Note. She was a good third behind Zenyatta and Lethal Heat in the Lady's Secret at Santa Anita in her last start, but her morning work this week made one think she might be on the verge of a big race. The time was a good :59.40 for five furlongs, but she looked effortless in skipping over Pro-Ride in the pre-dawn work while her exercise ride sat motionless aboard. At 8-1 in the morning line, she's worth some consideration.

So if you've decided that you're going to work Friday now that Zenyatta is racing Saturday, you may want to consider rehearsing your flu voice. You know... when you call in sick.

Zenyatta, Mine That Bird Top Big Names In Big Weekend

Just as we're getting over the excitement of Super Saturday at Belmont Park, Summer Bird, Sea the Stars, Lookin at Lucky and everthing else grand last week, here we go with Zenyatta, Mine That Bird and a host of other stars and great races this weekend.

Like the Norfolk Stakes (gr. 1) last week at Santa Anita's Oak Tree, the Champagne Stakes (gr. 1) at Belmont has championship implications, Breeders' Cup Juvenile implications and alerts the CDC offices in Atlanta of the first signs of Kentucky Derby fever which hits pandamic levels each spring in America. Fans watching the 2-year-old fillies in the Frizette at Belmont and Alcibiades at Keeneland will be wondering if they might be gettng their first glimpse of the next Princess Rooney, Meadow Star or Rachel Alexandra. Grade 1 races are scattered throughout the world on turf, dirt, Polytrack and Pro-Ride.

Zenyatta has the most on the line this weekend when she tries to equal the unbeaten streak of the great Personal Ensign by winning her 13th straight in the $300,000 Ladies Secret Stakes at Santa Anita. She'll face her usual cast of challengers plus one in the Ladies Secret, but it is a cast that seems to be getting closer to pulling an upset. Zenyatta barely won her last race, the Clement L. Hirsch Stakes (gr. 1) at Del Mar, by a head over Anabaa's Creation and Lethal Heat.

But perhaps her biggest competition will come from Life Is Sweet, who lives just a few stalls down from Zenyatta in trainer John Sherriffs barn. Life Is Sweet returns to Santa Anita's Pro-Ride where she won the El Encino (gr. II), La Canada (gr. II) and Santa Margarita Handicap (gr. I) consecutively earlier this year for Shirreffs. Zenyatta defeated Life Is Sweet in both the grade 1 Milady at Hollywood Park and in the Hirsch at Del Mar. But Life Is Sweet is perhaps more comfortable on Santa Anita's Pro-Ride surface.

The "plus one" will be an old nemisis from last year's Breeders' Cup Ladies Classic when Cocao Beach returns to Southern California from New York. Although runner-up to Zenyatta in the Breeders' Cup and later the winner of the grade 1 Matriarch at Hollywood Park, Cocao Beach has since been a bit shuffled back in the Godolphin Stables behind Beldame (gr. 1) winner Music Note. Last year Cocao Beach won the Beldame, but the New York race was given to Music Note - who won the race easily last Saturday - and Cocao Beach was shipped to Santa Anita for the Ladies Secret.

Like Summer Bird last Saturday in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, Mine That Bird will be facing older horses for the first time in the $350,000 Goodwood Stakes (gr. 1) at Santa Anita Saturday. It will be his first start since finishing third in the West Virginia Derby in August. He has not won since his surprising victory in the Kentucky Derby, but was a troubled second in the Preakness behind Rachel Alexandra and third in a mistimed ride by Calvin Borel in the Belmont Stakes. Mine That Bird, the king of equine adversity, also missed the Shadwell Travers (gr. 1) due to throat surgery. Summer Bird of course, won the Travers.

Borel reunites with Mine That Bird for the second time in the Goodwood where they will face Pacific Classic (gr. 1) upset winner Richard's Kid, San Diego Handicap (gr. 1) winner Informed as well as Chocolate Candy and 2008 Santa Anita Derby (gr. 1) and Travers Stakes (gr. 1) winner Colonel John. This will be the fifth rider change among three jockeys in seven races this year for Mine That Bird.

History Continues In Hollywood Gold Cup

While this, perhaps the final edition of the TVG/Betfair $700,000 Hollywood Gold Cup may not feature any iconic runners, it is packed with plenty of story lines of interest and a full and evenly matched field of 13. The two favorites alone provide plenty of fan fodder with the 6-year-old gelding Parading shipping in from New York and the 4-year-old filly Life is Sweet moving out of the distaff division to take on the older boys.

Life is Sweet, who is trained by John Sherriffs and is a stablemate of the undefeated Zenyatta, is trying to become only the fourth female to win the Gold Cup which will be run for the 70th time Saturday. Princessnesian became the third female to win the Gold Cup in 1968, joining Happy Issue (1944) and Two Lea (1952). Not many have tried in the last three decades. Life Is Sweet, who will be ridden by two-time Eclipse Award-winning jockey Garrett Gomez, will be the first to start in the Gold Cup since Kilijaro finished seventh in 1981.

But the sentimental favorite may be Mast Track trained by Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel, who has been recovering from an undisclosed illness at his home near Los Angeles and is one of the more popular trainers in horse racing. Mast Track is also the defending champion in the Hollywood Gold Cup having won the race last year for Frankel. Frankel will be going for his third Gold Cup havig first won with Marquetry in 1991 and Aptitude in 2001.

Trainer Doug O'Neill will be trying to win his fifth Gold Cup since 2002 when he won with Sky Jack. He then took three consecutive Gold Cup from 2005-07 with Lava Man and has Informed for this year's edition. Informed. who was racing at the $25,000 claiming level a year ago, won the grade 2 Californian at 14-1 at Hollywood Park June 14 over Rail Trip, who also comes back in the Gold Cup.

O'Neill is still far from trainer Charlie Whittingham's record of eight wins in the prestigious 1-1/4 mile event. His list of Gold Cup victors reads like a Thoroughbred racing history book after winning with Ack Ack (1971), Quack ('72), Kennedy Road ('73), Tree of Knowledge ('74), Exceller ('78), Perrault ('82), Grienton ('85) and Ferdinand in 1987.

Seabiscuit and jockey George Woolf won the first Hollywood Gold Cup in 1938. Since then winner have included Citation in 1951, Swaps ('56), Round Table ('57), Gallant Man ('58), Native Diver won three times from 1965-'67, Affirmed ('79), Best Pal ('93) and Cigar in 1995.

Jockey Laffit Pincay Jr. has won the race nine times and Bill Shoemaker eight times.

Hollywood Gold Cup Features Battle Of The Sexes

Kent Desormeaux had more to celebrate than the Fourth of July last weekend after winning the grade 1 American Oaks on Gozzip Girl at Hollywood Park Sunday and the grade 3, $250,000 Salvator Mile at Monmouth Park in New Jersey on Coal Play Saturday.

The New York based jockey will try to keep his hot streak alive Saturday when he is expected to be aboard 119-pound highweight Parading in the grade 1, $700,000 Hollywood Gold Cup.

Not only will he be trying to keep his own streak alive, but will try to guide Parading to his third consecutive graded stakes victory after taking the grade 3 Ben Ali Stakes at Keeneland in April and the grade 2 Dixie Stakes (photo) at Pimlico on Preakness Day in mid-May. Parading is trained by Shug McGaughey at his base in New York and said part of the reason for shipping to California was the consistently rainy weather in New York this Spring. The 6-year-old son of Pulpit is having a year consistent with a late bloomer as he never started as a 2-year-old, only started twice the next year and had an 11-month vacation before returning to the races at Keeneland in April just before the Ben Ali. He has won 7 of 17 races and has earned $405,046 in his career.

While Rachel Alexandra continues to scare away her female rivals on the East Coast, Zenyatta has forced her stablemate Life Is Sweet to switch divisions in California and challenge the boys in the Gold Cup.

Life is Sweet dominated the filly and mare division in Southern California before Zenyatta returned to defeat her in the grade 2 Milady Handicap at Hollywood Park in May. Before that she won consecutive races in the grade 2 El Encino Stakes, the grade 2 La Canada Stakes in Feb. and the grade 1 Santa Margarita Stakes during the first three months of 2009 at Santa Anita. Farret Gomes will ride Life is Sweet.