Hints of Ruffian, But Not Quite.

Hints of Ruffian, but Rachel Is Different

By COURTNEY HARTNETT

As the dark, spindly silhouette that was Rachel Alexandra strode into the gate at Pimlico this May, racing fans in the grandstand and at home on living room sofas were reminded of the champion filly Ruffian of the late 1970s. The Medaglia d’Oro daughter’s streamlined face, dignified bend at the poll, and snappy, self-assured stride radiated success, potential greatness, even. The best horse that Calvin Borel had ever been on was looking to be the best horse in the field — a field that included the Derby winner Mine That Bird.

The racing world remembers all too well the outcome of Ruffian’s fateful match race against the 1976 Derby winner Foolish Pleasure. Still, Rachel’s run in the Preakness was eerily reminiscent of the drama surrounding the great match of July 6, 1976. Borel’s choice of the stakes-winning filly over the Derby gelding wasn’t unlike Jacinto Vasquez’s decision to ride Ruffian in a match race against the colt he’d piloted to victory at Churchill Downs.

And while the American public didn’t go so far as to distribute and wear buttons emblazoned with “HIM” or “HER” to publicly declare which horse they’d put money on, there was a measure, albeit a contained one, of Battle of the Sexes drama played out in the middle pages of the sports sections.

Like Ruffian, Rachel Alexandra has been good for the sport of horse racing. She hasn’t brought record numbers to the grandstand or made the Pimlico infield packed beyond capacity, but TV ratings for the 2009 Preakness were the highest they’ve been in almost a decade. Circumstances, then, brought to mind Ruffian, but the real measure of our 2009 Preakness filly against the 1976 champion would be in the actual running. Rachel Alexandra and Borel were always a force in the race, but Rachel didn’t seize immediate control as the hotheaded Ruffian so famously — and so often — did. Vasquez often had to restrain the filly, knowing she had the field beaten but fearing she’d injure herself. Rachel Alexandra took command in the stretch, fending off Mine That Bird by a decisive, yet narrow, margin. The general consensus was that, given more ground, the gelding could have overtaken her.

Still, though, Rachel Alexandra’s win of the Preakness is no small feat. As the first filly to win in 85 years, she’s proven herself more than the average Kentucky Oaks winner. Immediately after the victory, Calvin Borel again praised her as the best horse he’d ridden but acknowledged that she wasn’t quite in top form.

That being said, 12 furlongs in the Belmont would have been a stretch for the filly, whose victories have mainly fallen within the 8-9 furlong range, with the 9.5 furlong Preakness being the longest race she’s won. Her strength was noticeably waning in the final strides, indicating that 9.5 furlongs – let alone 12 – is a bit of a stretch. Her sire, Medaglia d’Oro, similarly excelled in the 8-9 furlong range; the greatest distance at which he’s won is 10 furlongs in the Travers Stakes. He ran the Belmont and placed second. Second place might have been doable for the filly. If she had run, she would have likely placed behind the almost-formulaic race-end kick of Mine That Bird, whose sire Birdstone so famously upset Smarty Jones’s surefire bid at the Crown. The filly has found the distance that works for her, and it was unwise to push her beyond her clearly defined limit.

So is Rachel Alexandra our new Ruffian? Not quite. Her dark, lean, impressive frame may give us a touch of déjà vu, as may her recent stakes victories, but she isn’t the gripping heroine that Ruffian proved to be. Granted, her 3-year-old season isn’t over, and any number of things can happen. At best, Rachel Alexandra is close to what Ruffian was. But for the fleet-footed filly who swiped the Triple Crown’s second jewel from a colt many thought had a likely shot at winning all three, close may well be just enough.