Yesterday was pretty amazing. I spent the morning with my horses and then went to a flea market and purchased a wooden sewing kit, like my Aunt Ruth and mom had. I worked quietly on organizing my crafts and then watched television coverage of the 2009 Rolex (which I had attended in person) and then knitted while watching the coverage of the Preakness Stakes. The Stakes were sponsored by Blackberry and Canon, my two favorite sponsors, if you have to like corporations!! And NBC did a spectacular job covering the event, completly redeeming themselves for their shoddy coverage of the Derby. They covered the horses the entire time. They gave in depth stories about each horse. They live interviewed the jockeys, trainers, owners, grooms. They had really expert coverage with professional bettors and oddsmakers. They went into the jockey room and covered the jockey photo. They took us to the barn, to the paddock, to the saddling area. They walked with each horse from the barn to these other locations. They had coverage from hock level up close and personal. You practically felt like you were in the saddling area!
And what a week we had leading into this event. The filly's original owner made a big deal of saying that he wasn't sorry he hadn't entered his Oaks winning filly in the Derby because the Derby was the showcase venue for the world's best upcoming stallions. Boo. But Jess Jackson, the 79-year-old head of the winery, organized a purchase of the filly, transferred her to Steve Asmussen as head trainer and Scott Blasi, assistant trainer, and sent her to Pimlico in Baltimore! Then, as if that weren't exciting enough, the trainers and owners of Mine that Bird and Pioneerofthenile tried to bar her entry by exploiting a rule. But the owners of Luv Gov, named jokingly after Eliott Spitzer, caught wind of those shenanigans and Marylou Whitney said she would pull her horse, trained by D. Wayne Lukas, if Rachel Alexandra stayed at 15th and couldn't earn the 14th slot. Her husband, John Hendrickson, said, "We think Rachel Alexandra is wonderful. We entered our horse because we thought we had a shot. But if we are the deciding factor on whether or not Rachel Alexandra gets in, then we'll withdraw and wait until the Belmont. We're for sportsmanship and what's best for the game. It is ladies first for us."
So, she made it into the race. And what a race. She had the outside post. She broke clean and quickly was in front and pulled in from her wide place. She was in front from gate to wire with Mine that Bird making good tracks at the very end. She won by a length. It was *amazing* and here's why. First, she won from Post 13, the first time that's ever happened in Preakness history. Second, she was the first filly to win the race in 85 years, since Nellie Morse in 1924 when Calvin Coolidge was president, for goodness' sake! Third, she won from the front the entire race which is incredibly wildly rare for a horse to be able to do -- grabbing and holding onto the front for an entire race! Plus, fourth, she had a jockey who in the first time in history won two jewels of the Triple Crown while riding two different horses! Amazing! It was a great, great race.
Steve Asmussen credited Scott with keeping her in tip top shape. They said when she arrived at Pimlico, "You could tell she was happy going to the racetrack. You just watched her ears. She's very intelligent. She has seen it before." They joked about how soon she'd be visiting Curlin, another living legend they trained and raced. And Scott talked about his love for him and his recent visit to the champion in which Curlin did a dance of happy love, a greeting dance, and threw one of his shoes, "That horse knew me. There is an emotional attachment. That is why we get up early and go to the barns. People in this business love our horses." And when he went to pick up Rachel Alexandra from her trainer, Hal Wiggins, last week, he said, "He's one of my best friends. I know it's tough. I remember when Curlin walked out of our barn."
This sort of reporting made me happy. I'm glad the filly got a chance and did well. I'm glad that NBC did such great coverage and had an *amazing* woman interviewer who was *everywhere*, including on a track pony conducting the interviews on horseback. I'm glad that everyone had such positive things to say about the beauty, intelligence, majesty, and emotional connections of horses.
This year has been a great year for racing. Rags to Riches, the 2007 Belmont-winning filly, foaled her first Giant's Causeway filly, and Rachel Alexandra breezed out with power to win the Preakness!!! Go, Grrrls!!!
