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The debate of Zenyatta versus "Rachel'

Mon 29th, June 2009

Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - This past Saturday the top two distaff thoroughbreds in training each took to the track in competition within minutes of each other. That will probably be the closest the two females get to racing against one another.

Reigning older female champion Zenyatta and Preakness Stakes winner Rachel Alexandra both won their races Saturday and escalated the discussion on their possible matchup.

"I'm well-versed in that with the Curlin-Big Brown thing last year," said Steve Asmussen, trainer of Rachel Alexandra. "I'm just going to worry about her health and happiness, and then we'll sit down and decide what's best for her."

Last week the filly's majority owner Jess Jackson quite emphatically stated that his horse will not race in this year's Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita due to the track's synthetic surface.

Meanwhile, Zenyatta competes almost exclusively in California for owners Jerry and Ann Moss, and trainer John Shirreffs.

"He owns a great filly," Jerry Moss said about Jackson. "She won very easily today (Saturday). I'm not too crazy about the synthetic tracks either. I don't mind him talking up about that, maybe it will serve a purpose. And hopefully we will meet somewhere. If not the Breeders' Cup, maybe it will be somewhere else. I think time will tell on something like that and we will go from there."

Not only are Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta the leading female racehorses, they sit atop the NTRA poll at one and two, respectively. 'Rachel' is first with 193 points and 10 first-place votes, Zenyatta is second at 187 points and eight first-place votes.

"If the two horses are ready and at the top of their form," noted Moss, "I would very much like to see a race between the two of them."

Finding that race this year will be extremely difficult to accomplish. Zenyatta, undefeated in 11 career starts, has just one race outside of California and Jess Jackson has already made it clear that his filly will go nowhere near a synthetic 'plastic' track.

"We're not inclined to go toward the Breeders' Cup," Jackson said last week during a telephone conference call. "I have a very strong dislike for plastic surfaces. And I didn't believe she should be exposed to that."

The fact that the ladies have very different running styles also makes a matchup intriguing. Rachel Alexandra is a speed horse who normally is on the lead. Saturday's Mother Goose Stakes where she came from last in the three horse field was unusual.

Zenyatta comes from off the pace, sometimes by double-digit lengths, and wins fairly close finishes. Saturday in the Vanity she closed from five-lengths back to win by 2 1/2-lengths. The filly, on the other hand, won the Mother Goose by more than 19-lengths and the Kentucky Oaks by better than 20-lengths.

Should the two meet in a race Zenyatta would have to come and get 'Rachel'.

Since there is no chance that these two great thoroughbreds are likely to ever meet in competition, we look forward to their individual next starts.

Zenyatta is scheduled to defend her crown in the Clement L. Hirsch Stakes on August 9 at Del Mar. 'Rachel' is being considered for several stakes, including the Delaware Handicap, Coaching Club American Oaks and even the Travers Stakes.