{"id":31969,"date":"2015-09-07T22:35:34","date_gmt":"2015-09-08T02:35:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blacktypebugler.com\/?p=31969"},"modified":"2015-09-07T21:03:15","modified_gmt":"2015-09-08T01:03:15","slug":"rachels-saratoga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/?p=31969","title":{"rendered":"Rachel’s Saratoga"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rachel Alexandra only ran one time at Saratoga but it became one of the most storied races in the illustrious history of the Spa.\u00a0 As a three year old filly she took on older males in the Woodward and withstood challenge after challenge after challenge to wire the field and win by a nose, clinching a Horse of the Year title.\u00a0 Alex and I couldn\u2019t make it to Saratoga that day but we were there five years to the day later to see her daughter Rachel\u2019s Valentina seek her first stakes win in the Grade One Spinaway.<\/p>\n

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Alex was understandably a fan of Rachel Alexandra (she replaced Afleet Alex as his favorite runner).\u00a0 He never got to see her race but he did see Rachel\u2019s Valentina\u2019s sire Bernardini race several times during his championship season.<\/p>\n

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Rachel\u2019s Valentina is the second foal for Rachel Alexandra and she became the mare\u2019s first winner earlier in the Saratoga meet when she broke her maiden in fine form.\u00a0 Rachel\u2019s first foal, the three year old Curlin colt Jess\u2019s Dream broke his maiden in his first start later in the season.\u00a0 Alex and I cheered for both of them but when I heard that Valentina was running in the Spinaway I knew we had to make a trip to see her in person.<\/p>\n

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It was a much hotter day than Travers Day but as is typical for Labor Day weekend, significantly less crowded.\u00a0 We spent much of the early part of the day inside watching the races on tv trying to beat the heat but we wanted to be near the finish line to see Valentina so we went and snagged a killer spot on the rail just before the seventh race.\u00a0 That was a maiden special weight won by a gorgeous Tapit-Paiota Falls colt named Rafting.\u00a0 The eighth was the Grade Three Saranac for three year olds on the turf and then it was on to the main event.<\/p>\n

\"ENAR3902\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Maggie Wolfendale introduced Valentina in the paddock.\u00a0 She mentioned that when Valentina broke her maiden she hadn\u2019t made a favorable impression in the paddock but that today she was looking fantastic.\u00a0 The Rachel fan standing next to me on the rail said that it was true and that Maggie had received a lot negative feedback from the Rachel fans in the crowd that day for dogging \u2018their\u2019 girl. \u00a0There were more than a couple die-hard Rachel Alexandra fans around us on the rail and they went nuts when Rachel\u2019s Valentina hit the track.\u00a0 The filly made a great impression, especially when she began to warm up.\u00a0 She looked very on the muscle and ready to go.<\/p>\n

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My buddy Itch warned me on Friday that Tap To It was the horse to beat in the Spinaway.\u00a0 We had both seen her maiden victory where she overcame several bouts of trouble to win going away over a solid bunch of fillies.\u00a0 I told him I thought she was dangerous but that my heart was with Valentina.\u00a0 Tap To It broke last in the field of six fillies, while Rachel\u2019s Valentina stalked the leaders in third early on.\u00a0 The pace was solid and around the turn both Valentina and Tap To It moved into contention.\u00a0 Tap To It looked to have all the momentum entering the stretch but Rachel\u2019s Valentina swung out from behind the leaders and took dead aim on the front.\u00a0 She took the lead in mid-stretch and repelled the challenge of the surging Tap To It to become the first stakes winner and first grade one winner for her dam.<\/p>\n

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Sadly Rachel\u2019s Valentina is the last foal that Rachel Alexandra will ever produce.\u00a0 There were complications when foaling Valentina and Rachel Alexandra had to undergo life-saving surgery.\u00a0 She is still with us today thanks to the doctors at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital.\u00a0 Rachel\u2019s Valentina was raised by a nurse mare and hopefully will someday join the broodmare band at Stonestreet Farm to continue the line.<\/p>\n

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The Spinaway was not the only stakes on Saturday.\u00a0 Liam\u2019s Map also won the Woodward in impressive fashion.\u00a0 But that seemed almost like an afterthought.\u00a0 It was Rachel\u2019s day for sure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rachel Alexandra only ran one time at Saratoga but it became one of the most storied races in the illustrious<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":401,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/401"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31969"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31969\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32028,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31969\/revisions\/32028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}