You respect their place in history.”For some of the connections, there are no regrets that fate did not allow the two superstars to square off.“People will always talk about what would have happened if they raced, but we’ll never know the truth,” Smith said. You wouldn’t know what’s going to come out of the woodwork. Mantle or Mays? “Going into the Triple Crown, going into races against boys in the Haskell and older males in the Woodward. The race appeared dead.In an aggressive, last ditch effort to save this historical opportunity, Cella worked the phones from Wednesday evening till Thursday morning to make his race a reality. Blog; Forums; Bio; Career; Photos; Videos ; Shop; Toggle navigation Zenyatta.com Forums.
The following day, it was announced she would not run in the Apple Blossom.“Rachel Alexandra wasn’t at her best in the New Orleans and Zardana beat her,” Smith said. They are, without question, the two best fillies to race on dirt in this century.They most likely would both appear on a Top 10 list of North America’s greatest fillies or mares.Their combined collection of wins includes such prestigious Grade 1 stakes as the They finished 1-2 in the balloting for 2009 Horse of the Years honors.For two years, in 2009 and 2010, they represented the East and West and were the central figures in the sport’s most intense rivalry in decades.Yet not even once did Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta share the same starting gate, nor did they ever compete in a race that would have certainly become one of the most famous showdowns in the sport’s long history.“It was a very, very special time,” said Jerry Moss, who owned Zenyatta along with his wife, Ann. For horse racing fans in recent years, there’s a topic that has joined that list: Who was better, Rachel Alexandra or Zenyatta? (Eclipse Sportswire) She also scored impressive victories earlier in 2009 with a win at the Fair Grounds in the Fair Grounds Oaks, and two wins at Oaklawn Park in the Martha Washington, and Fantasy Stakes.Zenyatta’s record also speaks loudly: She starts her 6 yr old campaign while undefeated in 14 career starts, and is coming back from her most impressive performance to date, the November 7th Breeder’s Cup Classic. “But with Zenyatta and ‘Rachel,’ if I got 350 that was a little. Zenyatta. “No horse in my lifetime affected people the way Zenyatta did. “I will be at the back of the pack and and we’ll try to run her down. He then contacted Rachel Alexandra’s coowner, Jess Jackson, and Zenyatta’s owner Jerry Moss (left). Zenyatta's (left) and Rachel Alexandra's rivalry was arguably the biggest in this century despite the fact that the two never met on the racetrack. It’s East (Rachel Alexandra) versus West. In her case, she was 19-for-19! Zenyatta after winning the Apple Blossom. The deal was sealed and the race is on.“I understand the concerns of all competitors in needing a prep race and properly preparing for a race of this magnitude, especially in light of the weather we’ve been experiencing recently around the country,” Cella said. A lot of rivalries were great while they lasted, but they didn’t prove who was the better horse. Who does that? I can remember stories with 700 comments or more, and it got pretty nasty sometimes. Rachel is 2 for 2 in Hot Springs with wins in last years running of the Grade 2 Fantasy Stakes and the Martha Washington, winning both in impressive fashion.Zenyatta’s owner, Moss, has said his unbeaten mare is scheduled to race in the Grade 1 Santa Margarita Handicap at Santa Anita on March 13 and with a healthy return, would point for the Apple Blossom.After a six month vacation, Rachel Alexandra’s first start of the year is also scheduled for March 13 in the 1 1/16 mile $200,000 New Orleans Ladies, conducted at Fair Grounds Racecourse and Slots, located in New Orleans, Louisiana.Rachel’s 2009 Horse of the Year campaign consisted of 8 wins from 8 starts, including historic performances against the colts in the Preakness Stakes, Haskell Invitational, and Woodward Stakes. It was spiritual, like something from Billy Graham.”The biggest dust-up came late in 2009 when Horse of the Year was indeed a two-horse race between Stonestreet’s fleet 3-year-old filly and the Mosses’ stretch-running 5-year-old mare, trained by John Sherriffs.Both were undefeated in 2009 but Rachel Alexandra did not race after the Woodward on Sept. 5 as Jackson refused to run her in the Breeders’ Cup because it was contested on a synthetic surface at Santa Anita. She deserved it.”Rachel Alexandra’s victory over Zenyatta at the ballot box only heightened the demand for the two horses to race and those fervent hopes seemed destined to be fulfilled when Oaklawn Park offered a $5 million purse if the two tangled in the Apple Blossom on April 9, 2010.Both camps agreed to run in the race and hotels rooms in Hot Springs, Arkansas, were filled in a snap for that weekend.The rigors of her 3-year-old campaign caught up with Rachel Alexandra in 2010 and in her 4-year-old debut she suffered a stunning defeat at the hands of Zardana, a stablemate of Zenyatta, in the New Orleans Ladies Stakes at Fair Grounds.