Tuesday Sept 29th 2010 , one of the darkest days in recent history for the sport of kings. The great Rachel Alexandra has been retired to the breeding shed with Kentucky Derby alum and former horse of the year CURLIN. Now before you protest and call me a hypocrite....I admit, I was not a card carrying member of TEAM RACHEL....no sir, I was always in Zenyattas Camp and i swore the Z bird would defeat Rachel A if the two ladies ever squared off on the oval, but if you were lucky enough to ever be at the track when this grand Dame was going to run and you caught a doze of RACHEL FEVER than you know how contagious it was. I was there at the Haskell 09, the Oaks undercard 2010 and Rachel A Day at Monmouth this past July......never in my life have I seen so many people sooo excited to be around and see a horse run....call it girl power, pink power, whatever, IT WAS GREAT to see and gave the whole sport a double shot of enthusiasm in the arm.....equine enthusiasts from coast to coast can only hope that another horse captures the American spirit the way this gal did...God Bless Rache and hopefully your foals will be as exciting as you were.
On a darker, sadder note, Bob Baffert trained Kentucky Derby Champion and very nearly a triple crown winner, REAL QUIET suffered a fatal accident on a farm in PA Monday Night....I won't go into details because they are disturbing, but we take a moment of silence to honor a Great Champion that came within a length of immortality.(in 1998 after winning the KD and the Preakness, REAL QUIET like Smarty Jones hit the homestretch at Belmont with the lead , sadly it was not to be as Victory Gallop caught and passed him in the final furlong).
Good luck, God Speed and Greener Pastures Champ !
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