The battle for Horse of the Year title is as good as over after Rachel Alexandra’s historic all-the-way win in the Woodward gave her a ninth win in a row and her fifth at Grade One level. The daughter of Medaglia d'Oro became the first filly ever to win the race and the first three-year-old to triumph in twenty runnings.
Racing in the same colours as last year’s winner Curlin, Rachel Alexandra bounced out of the gates as if defeat was not an option, hitting the lead from the start and staying there despite a determined effort from her nearest rival Macho Again in the closing stages.
The Dolphus C Morrison-bred filly has completely dominated her own sex with wide-margin victories in the Kentucky Oaks and the Mother Goose, and has bettered the three-year-old colts in the Preakness and the Haskell Invitational. Her win today has proved emphatically that she is simply the best horse of any age and any sex in training in America. Only Epsom Derby winner Sea The Stars, who is by Darley’s leading European stallion Cape Cross and who also won his fifth Group One race of the season today, can rival her claim to be the best horse in training in the world.
While it’s unlikely that we will see Rachel Alexandra at the Breeders’ Cup meeting, one filly who may well be heading that way is She Be Wild after her win in the G3 Arlington-Washington Lassie Stakes.
The two-year-old daughter of first-crop sire Offlee Wild was bred by M and N Mazzoni and is now unbeaten in three starts. She Be Wild won a Stakes race on her last start and becomes the first Graded Stakes winner for her sire, who has nine individual scorers to his name, including the black-type performers Heavenville, Dant and Tomball.
