Rachel Alexandra Loses in Stretch Duel

Making her 4-year-old debut, Rachel Alexandra was stunned by Zardana, who tackled the reigning Horse of the Year at the top of the stretch and outdueled the heavy favorite to win by three parts of a length in the $200,000 New Orleans Ladies Sta

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Making her 4-year-old debut, Rachel Alexandra was stunned by Zardana, who tackled the reigning Horse of the Year at the top of the stretch and outdueled the heavy favorite to win by three parts of a length in the $200,000 New Orleans Ladies Stakes March 13 at Fair Grounds.

Off since winning the Sept. 9 Woodward Stakes–which was her ninth consecutive victory–Rachel Alexandra was sent off as the 1-20 favorite against a field of only four in the 1 1/16-mile New Orleans Ladies. The daughter of Medaglia d’Oro had turned in seven works leading up to her season debut, but trainer Steve Asmussen had said coming into the race that his stable star was not yet 100% fit.

With regular rider Calvin Borel aboard, Rachel Alexandra certainly seemed her usual self at the start, breaking well from post 2 while content to stalk pacesetter Fighter Wing, who grabbed the lead under Corey Lanerie. Fighter Wing took the short field through a moderate opening quarter of :23.84 and then a quicker half-mile in :47.72, with Rachel Alexandra sitting just off her to the outside.

Not long after the half-mile marker, Borel let an eager Rachel Alexandra go, and she assumed the lead into the far turn. The bay filly, who ran three-quarters of a mile in 1:12.86, easily put Fighter Wing away and seemed poised to coast to another victory. But Zardana, with David Flores in the irons, was in the midst of her winning move, as she circled three-wide around the turn while gaining ground and came up to challenge the superstar coming off the turn. Rachel Alexandra and Zardana were nearly on even terms approaching the eighth-pole, but as the two rivals continued into stretch Zardana was getting the best of her challenger, claiming the lead and then slowly edging away inside the sixteenth-pole. Borel was urging Rachel Alexandra left-handed throughout the duel, but she did not have enough to stop Zardana from springing the huge upset. Unforgotten was another 11 1/2 lengths back in third

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Written by:

Jason Shandler is a staff writer for The Blood-Horse magazine.

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