SARATOGA SPRINGS – The stage was set yesterday for what would be the most anticipated showdown in thoroughbred racing in over 20 years when owner Jess Jackson announced that 2009 Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra will make her next start in the Aug. 29 Personal Ensign Stakes at the Old Spa.
Now it’s up to the connections of the unbeaten West Coast supermare Zenyatta to decide whether they will fly the East Coast for the first time to run against Rachel in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign – a dream match-up that racing fans have been clamoring for since last summer.
The Personal Ensign will be Rachel Alexandra’s first race at a mile-and-a-quarter, the distance of Zenyatta’s historic victory in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic. That would seem to favor the “Zen-master.” But whereas only two of Zenyatta’s 17 wins have come on dirt tracks, the other 15 being over synthetic surfaces in southern California, “Alexandra the Great” showed an affinity for the Saratoga strip when she beat older males in the Woodward here last September.
“Rachel feels very much at home among the Saratoga fans,” Jackson said in a statement yesterday. “(The Personal Ensign) is an historic race named after a great champion. The timing is right for Rachel. She’s been coming back into her stride, and this will help prepare for the rest of her campaign and the Breeders’ Cup later this year.”
After winning all eight of her starts last year en route to Horse of the Year, Rachel did not race again for seven months. Upon her return, she suffered narrow defeats finishing second in her next two starts – the New Orleans Ladies and La Troienne – before rebounding with victories in the Fleur de Lis and Lady’s Secret last Saturday at Monmouth Park.
The purse for the Personal Ensign was originally listed at $300,000, but NYRA did not mention the amount in yesterday’s press release. That’s because, if Zenyatta does run – which does not seem likely at this point – the prize money would be considerably larger, say $500,000 or more.
