It certainly was ladies’ night for the Darley stallions on Monday, when three of their outstanding daughters were recognised at the Eclipse Awards in Beverley Hills.
Medaglia d’Oro’s exceptional daughter Rachel Alexandra not only took the award for three-year-old female, but also became the first ever three-year-old filly and just the fourth female in the history of the awards to take the coveted Horse of the Year title.
Rachel Alexandra, who will continue to race this year, romped to a 20-and-a-quarter length victory in the G1 Kentucky Oaks before becoming the first filly for 85 years to win the Preakness. Wide-margin victories in the Mother Goose and Haskell followed before champion trainer Steve Asmussen’s charge further ensured her name would be forever etched in the history books when becoming the first three-year-old filly ever to better her older male rivals to win the Woodward.
Just 31 votes separated ‘Rachel’ from her nearest (and effectively only) competitor for Horse of the Year honors and it was another Darley-sired distaffer – Zenyatta – who eventually finished a close-up second. The daughter of Street Cry did not go home empty-handed, winning the best older female award after a taking her unbeaten run to an unprecedented 14 in 2009.
Zenyatta added a further four G1 victories to her resume last year, with arguably her best performance yet coming in the Breeders’ Cup Classic which she won in scintillating fashion to become the first female to take the sought-after contest.
Completing the hat-trick in the female award categories was She Be Wild, who secured Offlee Wild’s freshman sire title last year when landing the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.
Nancy Mazzoni’s homebred made her racecourse debut in late May and was quick to impress, notching a seven-and-a-quarter length victory. Stepping up to Stakes company in August, She Be Wild once again won by a wide margin, this time taking the Top Flight Stakes by five-and-a-quarter lengths before winning the G3 Arlington-Washington Lassie by almost six lengths a month later.
Her only defeat came in the G1 Darley Alcibiades, where she was beaten just half a length but was her best yet at the Breeders’ Cup, where she produced a magnificent run on the rail under Julien Leparoux (who was named champion jockey) to win the Juvenile Fillies.
