Sunday, July 25, 2010

Maybe So, Maybe Not

Perspective, more than almost any force, determines so much in this game. And, as a result, horse racing fans might be split on several fronts about how things shook out Saturday and Sunday. Two of this past weekend’s events created opposite reactions – one divided, the other unanimous

Let’s begin with the long awaited return of Rachel Alexandra in the $412,000 Lady’s Secret Stakes at Monmouth Park. From one point of view, the reigning Horse of the Year’s trip to the Jersey Shore seemed like an unsavory money-grab. Watching the race unfold without any drama or doubt about which runner would win on the television sets in the Saratoga clubhouse, some might have difficulty finding the love that they had for the filly last September. Being at Monmouth in person might have been a better experience. The track cracked its all-time high mark for betting, abetted by the horse’s presence.

Through no fault of her own, Rachel Alexandra has been cast in the role of a carpetbagger. The New York Racing Association has bent over to appease the ego of Jess Jackson short of boosting the purse for the Gr.1 Ruffian Stakes. Rachel Alexandra is sheltered on NYRA property so that she can be close to her mentor Steve Asmussen,. A ball cap in Stonestreet colors, paying homage to last year’s Woodward, will be used as a giveaway during the meet. If the message that NYRA dearly needs Rachel Alexandra this summer to help with marketing of the Spa meet isn’t being communicated properly, someone isn’t paying attention.

CEO Charlie Hayward has protected the owners’ and trainer’s reputations by stating publicly that he agrees that the owners must do whatever is best for their animal. He believes that Rachel Alexandra will race in the Personal Ensign, the same way he believes the NYS Lottery Division will recommend the appointment of Genting as the Aqueduct VLT operator or that this meet, despite all the trash-talking this summer, won’t feel the effect of bad publicity. But Troy Record horse racing writer Nick Kling, among others, believes that Saratoga fans may never see Rachel Alexandra again in a horse race.

On Tom Amello’s backstretch-based Trackfacts TV show yesterday, Kling said the filly’s performance on Saturday had convinced him more than ever that she was merely a backstretch boarder. The veteran writer, an astute handicapper, must have loads of intuition to accomplish his job in the manner he does. But he gave little reason that anyone could take to the bank, let alone to the betting windows.

In a Blood-Horse Magazine story titled “Rachel Has to Work in Lady’s Secret Victory,” Jason Shandler confirmed Kling’s impressions that the filly may not be the competitor she was. Yet, many readers that left comments to the Saratoga Diary on bloodhorse.com were insistent that this observation was illusionary. “Seeing it was 103 degrees with a heat index of 110, I say Bravo to Team Rachel,” wrote someone with the handle of LuckySon. “She received a 110 speed figure which is nothing to sneeze at,” reader Nina added.

If a race between Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta is a tease, it’s the most ridiculous tease that anyone ever constructed. On the same type of television program that Kling appears on, Hayward said NYRA would sweeten the pot if the showdown was possible. But he also admitted that it was a remote possibility. He, himself, hadn’t talked to the connections. Only NYRA Board Chairman Steve Duncker had spoken to the Mosses. Why waste time on the impossible when there are fires to put out?

“I love where her mind is at right now,” Asmussen said about Rachel post-Lady’s Secret, not alluding to New Jersey. “We’ll assess her condition when she goes back to the track, discuss everything with Mr. Jackson and go from there,” the trainer said, confirming that the Personal Ensign Stakes on labor day weekend was one of the races they’d consider. Doesn’t his quote sound like boilerplate?

Now, let’s end with a heart-warming story. Hearts go out to the owners of Bail Out the Cat for watching as their Sanford Stakes favorite broke from the gates like a sleepwalker. Twenty paces into the race and Allan Garcia was out of his stirrups; all hopes dashed for trainer Rick Violette. But it’s hard to feel sorry in any sort of fashion considering the winner’s connections.

Carolyn Scisney, the owner of Sanford winner Maybesomaybenot, came by her horse the old-fashioned way. Her husband bred him. He then gave the horse to her so that she would feel special. Carolyn, in turn, gave 25 percent of the horse to their daughter-in-law Karen. Karen is suffering with lupus. The Scisneys thought that owning a part in a horse like Maybesomaybenot might raise her spirits. Definitely so, definitely not, until yesterday.

A gelding in the barn of Mike Maker, the horse is the first horse the Louisville, KY couple has raced at the Spa; the first that they thought might be something. “The buildings get taller when you cross the Hudson,” the late Woody Stevens warned outsiders. But Maker believed otherwise. “The owners are the nicest couple you’d ever want to meet,” the trainer said, hoping the step up from a Maiden Special Weights victory at Churchill Downs to a Grade 2 stakes at Saratoga wasn’t sightseeing.

Well, to make a long story short, the rise in company didn’t interfere with destiny. Maybesomaybenot took his place along Secretariat and Affirmed as a Sanford Stakes winner, rewarding the daughter of a sharecropper in a way that she never imagined. Fingers are crossed now that he’ll race in the Hopeful. If he wins that, the Scisneys’ hope will be Breeders’ Cup-bound. Stranger things have happened, including a loss by Man O’ War in the race that Maybesomaybenot won.

“If the Lord does nothing more for me, I’ll be alright,” remarked Anthellor Scisney. How’s that for a man with perspective?

Vic Zast is writing a Saratoga Diary on bloohorse.com. You can read more from him at Facebook and Twitter.

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