The 4-year-old filly that was so brilliant in 2009 that she won the Horse of the Year title terminated arguably one of the greatest racehorses to ever live has suddenly transform into somewhat of a laughingstock to win the 2010 BC Classic. Rachel Alexandra is now at +1500 horse racing odds to win this year’s Classic. Why? Because she was capsize by a 21 to 1 shot named Persistently in this past Sunday’s Grade I Personal Ensign stakes as a 2/5 favorite.
Yes, Rachel dueled with a rather good Todd Pletcher horse named Life At Ten through fast fractions. Yes, Rachel put away Life At Ten and looked to be well within herself in the middle of the stretch, but Persistently was, marvellously, persistent, and kept plugging away until finally she passed Rachel a few feet before the wire.
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The problem isn’t so much that a 2/5 chalk lost to a 21 to 1 shot. Upsets happen all of the time in horse racing. Horseplayers in reality live on upsets happening. They count on the chalk to pack it in and lose to longshot closers or loose on the lead speedsters.
Rachel Alexandra, however, is one chalky horse that’s not under any condition supposed to lose. If you win the Horse of the Year title and aren’t coming off of an injury, you aren’t supposed to escape to a horse that has gallop in an optional claiming $50,000 n2x other than in it’s last five. You aren’t supposed to lose to a horse that has won only 3 lifetime races unfashionable of 13 starts with 4 seconds and 4 thirds.
Persistently is what we call around the racetrack a “paychecker”. That means that her owners, the prominent Phipps Stable, who has tons of propensity in their barn, consider her a nice horse to pick up a paycheck “once in a while”. She can put cash in the bank by not not winning. Her connections, which include trainer Shug McGhaughey, would have been propitious finishing third in the Personal Ensign. Heck, it’s a Standing I race. For an optional claiming $50,000 horse to finish in the Top 3 in a Grade I is fantastic.
I reflection Persistently had no shot. Not sundry did. But Persistently didn’t indeed be the victor in this past Sunday. It’s not like she’s Roy Halladay and threw a no-hitter or something. Persistently won because Rachel Alexandra lost.
Oh, sure. Her fans, and there are restful numerous, will say that Rachel lost because she didn’t like the distance or because she was pressured by Way of life At Ten. That’s not true. Rachel lost because she wholly isn’t the same horse in 2010 that she was in 2009.
That’s all there is to it. Now, according to the horse racing odds makers, Rachel is a +1500 horse to sway the BC Epitome instead of the +700 horse she was before Sunday. That makes Rachel the 6th choice behind Zenyatta, Blame, Lookin’ At Lucky, Quality Road and Twice Over in the sportsbook.
From +700 to +1500 and she’s still an underlay in my opinion. Horse racing fans will never about the same Rachel Alexandra again. Hey, that’s life at the track.
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Sources: drf.com, brisnet.com