Boy oh boy, Preakness field fears filly Rachel Alexandra
BALTIMORE – Feed these Preakness horses all the carrots and caviar they want, assure them their fetlocks never looked more fetching, tell them their last race was an obvious piece of bad luck, that race and the six before it, but it won't do any good. They will never text you the name of Saturday's winner. This time it's their trainers, the cautious crowd in the zipper jackets, who have never been more willing to share.
These are the same guys, you understand, who dare not reveal if their ballpoints write blue or black. Who insist their horse's last workout was just what they wanted when what they're really thinking may appear somewhere, but for a lot more than 50 cents. Why the turnaround? The light-hearted conversations? The easy laughter in every interview?
Simple, friends, awfully simple. There's no point being tense, on edge, struggling to fall asleep, snapping at your cockatiel, when you know you're running for second money, please. It's "On the Waterfront," and Rod Steiger has told Marlon Brando, "This isn't your night, kid."
When the Derby winner, Mine That Bird, paid $103.20, the doubters guaranteed a crowded starting gate for the Preakness. (Let's see him do it again, har, har.) What they couldn't have known was that Wonder Woman, Rachel Alexandra in your program, would turn up in the same race. A day before the Derby, the filly won the Kentucky Oaks by 20-1/4 lengths, but only because she wasn't pushed the last part of the race. People began gushing adjectives. "Not since Secretariat won the Belmont by 31 lengths, blah, blah, blah …"
Gary Stute trains Papa Clem, who ran an unlucky fourth in the Derby. Stute is convinced Papa Clem woulda, shoulda finished second if he hadn't been bumped near the finish. "I was feeling pretty good (about the Preakness) until Mr. J. made his announcement," he said yesterday morning.
Mr. J is Jess Jackson who, along with a partner, bought Rachel Alexandra last week. There were no figures announced but the sales tag is said to be anywhere from $7 million to $10 million. She worked out last Sunday, to everyone's satisfaction, and the J-man paid the $100,000 supplemental fee to enter her in the Preakness.
And make life miserable for every other trainer in the race.
"Early on, it didn't look like that tough a race, and everybody scrambled to get in," said David Fawkes, who trains the speedy Big Drama. "The Derby wasn't that visually impressive, except for the winner. That's why we're here. We never thought we'd see the filly."
They can't say Rachel Alexandra makes it scary, aren't waving a white flag. But they are looking for every little reason to think she's only human.
"She kind of intimidates her opponents," said Fawkes. "She's run faster every time out."
So it's time to play Find-a-Flaw. Her four wins this year, over three different tracks, came with about a month between races. Now she's being tested twice in two weeks. "That's quick back," Fawkes said. "I was pretty surprised they came back." And then admits, "But it's the same for the Derby horses." Another thought: If they take turns pressing her, "even metal bends if you put enough heat to it."
She's leaving from No. 13, the post position closest to the souvenir stands. Preakness winners rarely leave from that zip code, but her connections weren't complaining. "The best horse in the race drew the best post," trainer Wayne Lukas maintains. "Everything has kind of fallen in line for her. If you asked these trainers and they bared their souls, they'll tell you they'd like to see her have some pressure, have horses around her, dirt kicked in her face, something like that. She's got that high cruising speed and that's what you like to see. Now she's out there and can kind of cruise and maybe go right to the lead."
Or not. It's up to Calvin Borel, who took off the Derby winner here – never been done before – to stay with Rachel Alexandra. The best horse he's ever ridden, he tells people.
"It'll surprise me if the filly doesn't win," Lukas says. The quick return doesn't bother him at all. "No, in light of what she did in the Oaks, she could have come back last Saturday." And, oh, by the way, "I would have run her in the Derby."
