Tracksideview.com

The proposed matchup on April 9 in the Apple Blossom at Oaklawn Park between 2009 Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra and 2009 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Zenyatta may have lost a little of its luster when Rachel Alexandra was beaten by Zenyatta’s stablemate Zardana in the New Orleans Ladies at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans.

Zenyatta kept her part of the bargain when she won the Santa Margarita on Saturday at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif.

Rachel Alexandra tracked the early speed of Fighter Wing as the quarter went in 23.84, the half in 47.72 and six furlongs in 1:12.86. Rachel made her move rounding the second turn but Zardana also was moving from fourth.

Rachel grabbed the lead before the quarter-pole but Zardana tackled her at the top of the stretch and stuck her head in front. Rachel fought back gamely but could not overcome Zardana as that one won the mile-and-a-sixteenth race by three-quarters of a length in 1:43.55.

Trainer Steve Asmussen was letdown after the race. “If I thought she’d get beat I wouldn’t have run her today,” Asmussen said. “We’ll have to be cautious. We want to do what’s right for the mare.”

Jockey Calvin Borel blamed the loss on fitness. “She needed the race, that’s all,” Borel said. “She needed the race more than anything.”

That assessment was echoed by Asmussen, who blamed himself for Rachel Alexandra’s defeat. “The filly’s lacking fitness,” he said. “It was my job to have her there, and I didn’t do it.”

Borel said he rode to instructions, and would have preferred to have let Rachel take the lead earlier.

“I wanted to go on past the speed horse early,” Borel said. “I’d have got by her anytime and my filly could have gone on, but they wanted me to wait and not get into her until the sixteenth pole.”

In the Santa Margarita, Zenyatta dropped back to her usual place at the rear of the pack and was content to stay there until jockey Mike Smith asked her to run rounding the second. It looked like Zenyatta would have trouble with traffic in the 11-horse field, but Smith moved her down to the rail and she followed Pretty Unusual until she cleared another horse. Zenyatta then spurted by Pretty Unusual and was home free by a little more than a length.

“I don’t know what to say, I’m like a fan. This was her first race back and I wanted to make it as easy as possible. I thought I would be able to follow Ski Dancer and wheel out wide when I needed to, but when Alex (Solis) didn’t move on I eased back and decided to follow Pretty Unusual. I could’ve wheeled wide when we turned for home, but I decided to follow Chantal (Sutherland, aboard Pretty Unusual) as far as I could. I cut some corners and gambled a bit, but I was confident at all times that if she needed to make room, she could.  She’s a bit of a bully. This was a great, great race for her and it wasn’t taxing at all.  We got enough out of this race to move forward,”  Smith said.

Trainer John Shirreffs was pleased with Zenyatta’s effort. “Obviously, he (Mike Smith) went to the inside, and then had to come back out, so . . . I just have a lot of faith in Mike. I know once he gets her in the clear, he has a good chance. She’s cut in between horses and everything, but when you have a big X on your back, a lot of places don’t open up that normally would.”

Asked if everything was OK if she would go to Oaklawn for the Apple Blossom (April 9) no matter what: “Yeah, yeah. I didn’t get a chance to see it (the New Orleans Ladies Stakes), but I heard it, and it sounded great . . . She’s (Zardana) tough. California’s tough . . . We’re tough. Don’t take us short. Zenyatta will run in the Apple Blossom regardless. That was never really the thing, for us. It really wasn’t. Zenyatta came back so we could have some fun with her and other fans could see her. That was the whole thing. She’ll go back to Hollywood (Park) and get ready for Oaklawn.”

Asked if she was better now than she was before: “That’s hard to say. How can you be better than perfect.”