Makin' it look easy

Granted, it was the first Grade 1 race I've ever witnessed in person. But Zenyatta on Friday afternoon at Oaklawn Park made winning the Apple Blossom Invitational look almost like she was facing optional claimers instead of stakes company.

The giant 6-year-old dark bay mare, a two-time champion older female, scared off all but four competitors from the race, including last year's Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra. And as I stood on the apron near the finish line at Oaklawn Park, one of 44,973 who mostly came to see Zenyatta in the flesh, I joked that with the mare sitting at 1/9 on the board and certainly much more heavily bet in reality, the most interesting wager might be on how many lengths she would spot the field on the first time past the start-finish line of the mile and an eighth race.

The answer: About eight lengths.

Zenyatta's victory was her 16th consecutive victory in as many lifetime starts, and came only a day after the death of another unbeaten champion mare and favorite of mine, Personal Ensign. It was her second victory in the Apple Blossom, as she took the 2008 running in a much tougher field that included Brownie Points and Ginger Punch.

On this day, jockey Mike Smith shook the reins a couple of times at Zen in the stretch, but that was about it. With practically zero encouragement and seemingly without breaking a sweat, Zen swept five-wide on the far turn and came home a widening 4 1/2 lengths in front of Taptam, whose connections were visibly (and justifiably) thrilled with G1 blacktype and a $100,000 payday in a race that was for second place all along.

Home third was Be Fair, with Just Jenda fourth and War Echo rounding out the field.

In all, despite losing my shirt at the window, it was a pretty darned good day at the racetrack. (As for the wagering, I had trifectas blown up by a 16/1 horse in the third, and a 23.5/1 horse in the fifth, and a super screwed by a horse at about 11/1 in the sixth.)

Since I'm working on free McDonald's WiFi -- and they're starting to give me the evil eye because the lobby was supposed to have closed 21 minutes ago -- I might not know until I get back to North Carolina quite how all the pictures came out. Not even sure the one I've uploaded is a great one, as the laptop lacks Photoshop and its screen isn't as true as the big monitor on the G5 tower back at home. But it was my brush with the greatness that is Zenyatta, so here it is.

Racing should ride Rachel vs. Zenyatta

The year ahead might be the best in recent history for horse racing fans. Potentially even a rejuvenation of the game in the eyes of the sports media and the general public.

We have a rivalry. Potentially more ardent, bitter and intriguing than it was two days ago.

Rachel Alexandra's crowning Monday night as the Eclipse Award winner for Horse of the Year has practically set ablaze the hair of some supporters of her chief competition for the award -- unbeaten mare Zenyatta.

One of the most incredible fillies of the last 50 years -- a filly who went 8-for-8 with five Grade 1 wins including three against males -- is being disparaged as undeserving of recognition as Horse of the Year.

Fairly knowledgeable horse people and race fans in a Yahoo discussion group I frequent have complained that the voting came down in Rachel's favor because of some unnamed "perks" voters allegedly receive. ... Don't ask me what those "perks" might be.

"RA being HOY is a joke, she doesn't deserve to stand in Zenyatta's shadow," another familiar contributor suggested. "She barely beat the males that Z destroyed in the Classic."

Wait ... what?

Exactly two horses were common opponents between Rachel's season and Zenyatta's scintillating Breeders' Cup Classic win: Summer Bird and Mine That Bird.

Rachel smashed Summer Bird by six lengths in the Haskell Invitational. Zenyatta beat him by three in the Classic.

Granted, Zenyatta trounced Mine That Bird in the Breeders' Cup, while Rachel barely held him off as he was closing fast in the Preakness way back in May. But nobody can argue a case for Mine That Bird getting better throughout 2009. Rachel beat the Kentucky Derby winner at the peak of his form, in a race that hadn't been won by a filly since Nellie Morse in 1924.

Still, the same Yahoo group member who made the (debunked) comparison insists, "RA is a very nice filly but not HOY in any year."

Even Zenyatta's owner, Jerry Moss, got involved a little bit, lamenting that Rachel Alexandra won despite running in mostly "restricted races" throughout 2009.

Well they weren't restricted to New York-breds, Jerry. Sure, Rachel received weight allowances, being a 3-year-old running against males and particularly against older horses in the Woodward. But those are the rules of racing; neither Rachel nor her connections write the rules, they just race under them.

Meanwhile, Zenyatta's 2009 schedule was about as "restricted" as one could get. Knowing that the Breeders' Cup would be run over synthetic at Santa Anita (again), Moss and trainer John Shirreffs essentially stayed home all year. That left Zenyatta -- an absolute synthetic-track monster -- looming dark and foreboding over the California circuit, where she was already 8-for-8 lifetime, and a dominating 8-for-8. Aside from stablemate Life Is Sweet (who went on to win the Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic), there just wasn't much talent running against Z this year in her four starts prior to the Classic.

And the one time Zenyatta ventured outside California in 2009 -- for a scheduled start in the Louisville Distaff at Churchill Downs on Derby weekend, a race in which she was 4/5 on the morning line -- Shirreffs scratched her when rain soaked the track.

Regardless whether they've ever raced, which clearly they haven't, many Zenyatta supporters are absolutely convinced their mare would win any meeting of the pair, regardless.

"I did not want the two to meet because of their very different racing styles," wrote one contributor to the Yahoo group I frequent. That is, Rachel is a front-runner and Zen a closer. "But after Zenyatta's performance in the BC Classic ... I know that Zenyatta can and will beat Rachel ... and then the fans will just say, well of course, Zenyatta is older."

Anyone who has watched more than a few horse races should know that isn't such a sure bet. The outcome of any race depends on too many factors -- track conditions, distance, other horses in the field and how the race sets up -- to consider either runner a lock in a race between two dominant females.

If Rachel is relatively loose on the lead, she will be hard to pass -- even, I predict, at a 10-furlong distance that many of her detractors believe her connections are avoiding like the plague. The filly will fight.

And in a big group, with traffic problems or even merely moving over a traditional dirt track the likes of which she's rarely seen, Zenyatta might run into trouble she can't overcome, or simply not fire her best shot.

Anyone who is completely convinced that Zenyatta will beat Rachel should they meet this year should review her Preakness and take pause.

Mine That Bird, a devout closer who was then at the top of his game, could not reel her in even though she broke from the 13-hole (from which no prior Preakness winner had ever started) and did most of the work on the front end, pressed by a very fleet colt in Big Drama.

A number of observers, including retired jockey Jerry Bailey, have suggested with some evidence that Mine That Bird's chances in the Preakness were compromised by a bad ride from Mike Smith, who didn't give him the best trip, particularly not the shortest route through the inevitable traffic on the turn for home. ... That's the same Mike Smith who rides Zenyatta as she closes from the clouds.

And Rachel would relish rain on race-day, while Shirreffs would probably scratch Zenyatta or else have to run her even though the conditions would be advantage-Rachel.

To be sure, Rachel has her defenders, as well. My hand is raised. And a TVG network message board thread is titled "Moss is a pitiful loser" -- filled with Rachel and Zenyatta fans engaging in a sharp exchange. (Plus a few level heads.)

And it's beautiful.

Controversy spurs interest. And for once, a nationwide racing controversy doesn't involve cheating or drugs (though some Zen supporters praise John Shirreffs as a cleaner trainer than Rachel's handler Steve Asmussen) or broken-down horses being put to death.

It's a quarrel of epic proportions and a squabble that digs deep to the very roots of why mankind started racing horses against one another in the first place.

Whose horse is faster?

With Zenyatta confirmed to be in training rather than destined for an immediate trip to the breeding shed, a potentially stellar 2010 awaits.

I expect her to run a prep -- maybe the 9-furlong, Grade 2 Strub Stakes against males on Feb. 6. Then Zen would turn up next in the Santa Anita Handicap, where she'll almost certainly be sent off at a short price and probably run her lifetime record to 16-for-16 (assuming a prep win) with a stirring performance reminiscent of her Classic win, becoming in the process the first female to win that historic race.

Rachel, meanwhile, is still on the shelf after her own historic Woodward win. But (unless there's a physical issue of which we're unaware) she should become visible again on a training track fairly soon.

For the good of horse racing, these ladies should meet -- repeatedly, at different distances and venues -- during 2010.

Rachel will need to get back into training and have a prep or two before these arch-rivals-who-have-never-met, first meet. After all, Zenyatta appears to be sharp right now, today, and destined to race at least by the Big 'Cap in March if not before. I don't expect to see Rachel in a race at all until April, maybe at best.

But I hope that the summer and fall leading up the Breeders' Cup at Churchill Downs in November will give us Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta going head-to-head two or three times. Preferably at least once against males, to hopefully make sure the field is of a good size and decent quality, with some speed to test Rachel and other closers to launch their bid with Zen.

With a long season of good luck, good form and good health for both females, the 2010 Breeders' Cup could be a "rubber match" of sorts, and the deciding factor in the Horse of the Year voting that the Rachel-less B.C. failed to be in 2009.

And for once -- with these two amazing females carrying horse racing's colors -- perhaps our game will be the talk of the sports media throughout the year, and not just from the first Saturday in May until the final strides of the Belmont Stakes a few short weeks later.

Borel, at least for now, is best for the Bird

Now maybe this case is settled. For two more races, anyway.

Calvin Borel -- once again, for the third time -- is the jockey of Mine That Bird.

Borel's first ride with the 3-year-old reigning Canadian juvenile champion was of course the duo's stunning, rail-skimming, upset win in a sloppy Kentucky Derby on May 2. Obviously it's the biggest win of the gelding's life.

When Borel took off the horse to ride super-filly Rachel Alexandra in the Preakness, Mine That Bird didn't get a good trip, nor the world's greatest ride, from Mike Smith. The Bird finished a gaining and frustrating second to Borel and the history-making filly.

Smith took off the horse to ride on the west coast on Belmont Stakes day, and Borel was back in the irons at Belmont. Inexperienced over "Big Sandy," Borel has been criticized for moving with Mine That Bird too soon. The horse flattened out in deep stretch and finished a tired third.

And, off goes Calvin, this time by choice of the horse's connections, trainer Bennie Woolley Jr. and owners Mark Allen's Double Eagle Ranch and Buena Suerte Equine.

Their choice of replacement? Mike Smith, who in the West Virginia Derby gave the horse a ride very similar to Borel's mistake in the Belmont; moving too soon. Even Smith thought so, calling it "total rider error."

Smith was booked to ride Mine That Bird in the Travers, but the horse was scratched after undergoing minor surgery for an entrapped epiglottis. So now, contractually, the Kentucky Derby winner was again without a rider. And his connections reach back in the hat, stir the available jockeys around a bit, and pull out ... the same guy who won with him in the Derby and lost aboard him in the Belmont.

Calvin Borel worked the gelding Monday at Saratoga. He'll ride Mine That Bird in the Goodwood S.-G1 on Oct. 10 at Santa Anita, and -- unless some other big change occurs -- in the Breeders' Cup Classic at the same track on Nov. 7.

It's the best choice for a horse that must be starting to feel like a displaced foster child.

What we do know is the following:

1. Mine That Bird ran the race of his life in the Kentucky Derby.

2. He's pretty much run his guts out every time since, with trip and tactics -- not lack of talent -- being primarily what's gotten him beat.

3. Borel was responsible for one of those rides, but it was at a mile and a half and over a track with which Borel (through no fault of his own) was completely inexperienced; a race, the Belmont Stakes, that has reputation for undoing very good horses and riders.

I really believe that, paired-up again and given 9 or 10 furlongs, Calvin Borel will push the button at the right time and offer Mine That Bird his best shot to win in the Goodwood and the Breeders' Cup Classic.

That doesn't mean he will win. But if he loses these two, I'd like to think it won't be due to the ride he was given.

Jackson says Rachel headed to Haskell

Owner Jess Jackson said Tuesday afternoon that his fabulous 3-year-old filly Rachel Alexandra -- unbeaten in 2009 and winner of both the Kentucky Oaks in dominating fashion over her own gender and gamely in the Preakness Stakes against the boys -- will face colts again in her next start, the Haskell Invitational H.-G1 at Monmouth Park.

"Rachel Alexandra is progressing well after her stakes record victory in the Mother Goose," said Jackson, owner of Stonestreet Stables, in a statement to the media. "We are all looking forward to seeing this great athlete perform again against both colts and fillies."

In the Haskell, Rachel will get a slightly shorter trip than she weathered against colts and geldings in the Preakness. The Aug. 2 Haskell is 9 furlongs, while the Preakness distance is 9.5f. And, having done all the work on the front end, had the Preakness been about five jumps longer (or had Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird gotten a slightly better trip under replacement jockey Mike Smith), Rachel might well have been caught.

She won't face Mine That Bird in the Haskell, but she is likely to face a horse that has beaten him -- Summer Bird, another son of Birdstone and winner of the Belmont Stakes, in which the Derby winner came home third.

The Haskell sets up as a good race for Rachel, however. She gets to run for $1 million, in G1 company against males, but on a weekend when two other races have drawn away some of the competition.

The Jim Dandy S.-G2 at Saratoga (where she's training) is a summer classic at America's mecca for horse racing, and though its purse is half that of the Haskell's and its grade is lower, it always attracts nice horses. Among them could be Charitable Man, who last ran in the Belmont, and Warrior's Reward, who stumbled badly at the start as the 4-5 favorite in the Dwyer S.-G2 (under Rachel's regular rider, Calvin Borel) and might be in the Jim Dandy seeking redemption.

Meanwhile, Mine That Bird is committed to the $750,000, Grade 2 West Virginia Derby at Mountaineer Park. And other top 3-year-olds have fallen by the wayside, with Quality Road seemingly not yet ready to return in time for the Jim Dandy, and Musket Man, who was third in both the Derby and Preakness, hurt and taken out of training.

That doesn't mean the Haskell won't be a challenge. Whomever else is entered, Rachel will likely be on the front end with the determined closer Summer Bird coming to catch her late. He'll stand a very good chance if there's any speed in the race to press Rachel on the pace.

Whether every race is stacked, they'll all be interesting as we watch to see which horses move on toward the Grade 1 Travers Stakes at Saratoga at the end of August. We know that's where Mine That Bird is pointed if he comes out of West Virginia well. Likely Charitable Man and Summer Bird, as well, and who knows which other colts and geldings.

And, depending on how she fares in the Haskell, maybe which filly.

Close race in jockey poll: Can Chantal Sutherland beat Somebody Else?

Could Mike Smith retain the mount on Mine That Bird if our voters were in charge? Can Chantal Sutherland take down "Somebody Else?" What's with all the support for Richard Migliore?

These questions and more are being asked by the world today ... well, primarily by me ... as I'm intrigued with the results so far in the poll I opened (see column at left) on who my readers would hire as the replacement jockey for Calvin Borel if they owned Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird.

Noting that Mike Smith's two-race commitment still doesn't get the horse's connections through to the Breeders' Cup with a guaranteed jockey, I recommended Sutherland and said that Migliore also was a favorite of mine.

Among voters in the poll, Sutherland leads among my suggested names -- by a vote, 7-6-6 over Smith and Migliore -- but "Somebody Else" has the overall lead with 8 votes.

So if you have voted for "Somebody Else," I'd particularly like for you to stop back by and put the name of that "Somebody Else" in the comments section here, to see if there's a consensus pick emerging from the "none of the above" crowd.

Julien Leparoux ... no, Mike Smith! ... to be aboard Mine That Bird in West Virginia Derby and Travers

It seems that nothing's ever simple or straightforward when dealing with Mine That Bird and his connections.

I check my e-mail pretty religiously, at least on weekends and when there are horses to discuss. I saw a tip from a message board friend that the Blood-Horse was reporting that jockey Julien Leparoux had committed to ride the Kentucky Derby winner in the upcoming West Virginia Derby-G2, Aug. 1 at Mountaineer Park.

I clicked the link to read the story, and the page at bloodhorse.com was empty.

I clicked the Blood-Horse logo to head back to the homepage and saw no page-topping story link to coverage of who is riding Mine That Bird now that owner Mark Allen and trainer Bennie Woolley Jr. have de-seated the man who won them the Kentucky Derby and beat them in the Preakness, Calvin Borel. But a quick search of the page found a smaller-type link for the story "Smith to Ride Mine That Bird in Two Stakes."

So the news is: Mike Smith, who rode Mine That Bird to a closing second behind Borel and Rachel Alexandra in the Preakness Stakes and then gave up the mount to ride for regular clients Jerry and Ann Moss on the west coast and skip the Belmont Stakes, is back in the irons for the West Virginia Derby and the Travers S.-G1, at Saratoga. ... But apparently that news came after an only-temporarily-correct story had broken that Leparoux would ride the 'Bird in West Virginia.

Or something.

Turns out the report about Leparoux was right until his agent "realized he had a prior commitment." ... The sort of commitment that apparently keeps him from riding a short-priced favorite in a $750,000 race.

This can't be the resolution that Allen and Woolley were hoping to achieve. Unseating Borel might have been the right move for them, because if Rachel Alexandra ends up in the Travers, too (or in the Jim Dandy-G2 on West Va. Derby Day) they were going to lose him, anyway.

But to go back to a jock who asked-off their horse prior to a Grade 1 ... and a jockey who will have to travel from California to ride their horse in these two eastern races ... and thus probably won't be working him in the interim ... and who didn't even commit beyond the end of August ... that can't be what Mine That Bird's principals were looking for.

I know they're New Mexico connections who are likely to blow away like tumbleweeds from the national racing landscape when this horse is gone. But he isn't looking like he'll be gone anytime soon.

Not only was Mine That Bird a convincing Derby winner in the slop, but he came back and scored a gutsy runner-up finish in the Preakness and a credible third in the Belmont Stakes without getting a good trip in either race. He's won over synthetic surfaces at Woodbine in earning a Canadian 2-year-old championship, and shouldn't chicken out of the Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita like the connections of some horses. (You heard me, Jess Jackson and Rachel.)

And he's a 3-year-old gelding. He might race in good company until he's 6, or 7, or 8.

Not to mention, though they're being passed off as hayseeds who crashed the party -- c'mon, NTRA, you're telling me that in two months nobody can get around to writing a frickin' bio for these two guys for your Web site? -- Mark Allen reportedly has the better part of $30 million to play with from the sale of his family's oil field services company. If he hires a good bloodstock agent, he'll keep himself in competitive horses for as long as he cares to stay there.

Will nobody commit to this horse through the Breeders' Cup? ... Nobody?

To me it seems we have a Catch-22: Mine That Bird appears to be a very good horse with obscure connections, and those connections realize they have a horse worthy of one of the best jockeys in the country and aren't willing to settle for less.

It's possible that Mike Smith won't be faced with having to take off Mine That Bird before the Breeders' Cup on the first weekend November, but then again, he might. It's reasonable to believe the Travers on Aug. 29 won't be Mine That Bird's last race before a Nov. 7 trip to Santa Anita for the Breeders' Cup Classic. That's a lot of days between.

Could be he fits in the Super Derby-G2 on Sept. 19 at Louisiana Downs. Or is sent out against older horses for the first time in the Jockey Club Gold Cup-G1 on Oct. 3 at Belmont. Or wants to clobber other 3-year-olds in the Indiana Derby-G2 at Hoosier Park on Oct. 3.

Any of those, and maybe others not on the cusp of my brain, set up as a potential last race for Mine That Bird before the Breeders' Cup in November. And nobody is committed to ride him in September or October. Or November.

Allen and Woolley probably should've swallowed their pride and stepped down just one peg on the jockey ladder to find someone with ability -- a younger guy, an overlooked guy, or not a guy at all -- who would be thrilled to have a horse the caliber of Mine That Bird, and who would have to be dragged off him with a cowboy's lasso (which Woolley could probably accomplish) rather than be asking off him the next time they have a good horse running anywhere else.

And that's actually a decent list of people.

For me, it starts with Chantal Sutherland, who piloted Mine That Bird to his Canadian championship. She rode him to a dull finish in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, but who knows how "off" the horse was after a long ship from Woodbine to Santa Anita last fall? Allen's Double Eagle Ranch and partner Buena Suerte Equine had only owned him a couple of weeks at the time. Sutherland is presently 34th in earnings among all North American riders according to Equibase.com, winning at a fair 14 percent clip and hitting the board with 43 percent of her mounts. And she might be a good public relations move -- hiring the horse's capable former jockey, a spokesmodel-pretty and well-spoken woman, to boot, to try and guide him to a Breeders' Cup win that eluded them both last year.

Of course, maybe one ride last fall for these connections was enough for Chantal; only she could say.

There are plenty of other names worth tossing into the discussion, though I'll admit to not knowing all the commitments for them that might conflict.

Rajiv Maragh is No. 10 on the 2009 jockey earnings list and second in wins at the present Belmont meet. Mike Luzzi and one of my favorites, Richard Migliore, are capable old hands at Saratgoa who could stand to win a $750K race at Mountaineer next month, and "Migs" knows his way around Santa Anita plenty well, too.

Churchill's colony, if they're looking for someone to work the horse regularly and ship with him to races, has some respectable possiblities. Young Miguel Mena, 22, is third in wins during the Churchill meet -- ahead of names like Robby Albarado, Shaun Bridgmohan, Corey Lanerie, and Jamie Theriot -- and could use a "big horse" to give his career an extra boost. Not Mena? Try one of those other names I just listed; Bridgmohan in particular. He's 17th in earnings this year among all North American jockeys.

Willing to go with a California-based jock who might be very interested in a mount for the Breeders' Cup out there? Joel Rosario is another who apparently doesn't merit mention among the bios at NTRA, but all he's doing is leading the Hollywood Park meet in wins with 62 from 292 mounts, is second in earnings to Rafael Bejarano, and his jockey agent is track announcer Vic Stauffer, so your gelding is not going to get overlooked when hanging around at the back of the pack before bringing his late run.

I'm not saying Mike Smith is a bad jockey for Mine That Bird. What I'm saying is, if Jerry and Ann Moss or their trainer, John Shirreffs, come up with a horse for the Classic, you're losing him. And with no commitment for September or October, you're possibly losing him even earlier than that.

I'm starting to feel for these guys a little bit, and particularly for their horse. Mine That Bird is a Kentucky Derby winner who deserves a regular rider.

But it looks like the riders the connections want won't make the horse their No. 1 mount, and the good jockeys who'd be glad to make Mine That Bird their No. 1 horse aren't the riders Allen and Woolley want.

Or maybe they're selling the horse before the Breeders' Cup anyway and only need their own jockey for two more races.

Wesley Ward at Ascot: A postscript, and perspective

It's hard to believe I'm so unfashionably late to Wesley Ward's Royal Ascot party, but perhaps a bit more than a week of reflection can put the California-based trainer's accomplishments in Great Britain fully into perspective.

Ward made history June 16 when Strike the Tiger, whom he co-bred and co-owns, became the first American-trained horse to win a race at Royal Ascot, England's premier meeting, with a nearly 300-year history. The 2-year-old gelding dashed to victory in the 5-furlong Windsor Castle Stakes on June 16.

Only a day later, Ward upped the accomplishment when his juvenile filly, Jealous Again, ran off and hid with the Queen Mary S.-G2 by five lengths.

To use a word that has come into (and perhaps already gone out of) fashion among the younger set, I'm not much of a "fanboy" of any particular thoroughbred trainer. I know a few race fans who are as much a follower of a specific conditioner as they are of some of the horses; that trainer's methods and successes have earned their support. But the only trainer whose career I follow quite so closely is Maryland-based Phil Schoenthal, not just because I respect his methods, but he's also a standup guy who actually answers my e-mails.

Yet Ward has caused me to take notice of him more than once in the past.

The Eclipse champion apprentice jockey when he was just 16 (and I was only about 18), Washington-born Ward gave up riding early to due struggles with maintaining weight. After he took up training, I saw clips of him at the auction in a two-part TVG documentary about 2-year-old in training sales. In those snippets something about Ward just struck me; he seemed approachable, personable, honest. (Although I've never met the man and will concede that I cannot match the human-character-judging skills of, say, a top-notch golden retriever.)

So I was happy for Ward -- and relatively glad it was him and not any of a number of other unnamed American trainers -- who ventured to England and left his mark on Royal Ascot.

But then I thought to myself, how could it have been many of those "other" trainers? ... Because at Ascot, you're gonna have to run 'em on hay, oats and water. And a lot of our conditioners have no idea anymore how to do that.

American racing has gotten a bad rap at home and abroad for its reliance on drugs -- and I don't just mean the cheaters, who are a small but regrettable segment of the training colony. Even a number of the "clean" trainers (prior to increasing regulations to the contrary) were quick to use permissible steroids like Winstrol, while substances like Lasix, "Bute" and Banamine are or have been allowable "race-day meds" in many jurisdictions.

But they'll be having none of that across the pond, thank you.

Ward made a bold, but calculated risk in shipping the horses he chose to the Ascot meet. Of the six to travel, five were juveniles. He was playing the angle that American breeding is far more focused than is the typical European pedigree on speed and precocity, and that Ward himself is known even in the States as a trainer who can really get a 2-year-old ready to race. (Ward's detractors would say he's too hard on them.) There was a fair chance that Ward's 2-year-olds would be more "forward" in their training than the Euros, and victory was possible if his charges could attain the full measure of their early potential without the typical U.S. medications.

Ward, and his horses, proved that they could.

To be sure, there were setbacks. Three of Ward's 2-year-olds were also-rans in their stakes races. And his 4-year-old gelding, Cannonball, finished 5 1/2 lengths back of the winner in his first outing, the King's Stand S.-G1. Yet in Cannonball's case, Ward performed a second distinctly "un-American" training trick. He wheeled the gelded son of Catienus back just four days later -- not two months -- and collected second place in the Group 1 Golden Jubilee Stakes.

"This just proves if you get a horse right on the (right) day it doesn't matter if they're racing in Australia or China," Ward told The Racing Post.

And yet these Royal Ascot wins were something no other American trainer before Ward had accomplished. Only two other American-trained horses had ever won any flat race in Europe -- Reigh Count, 1928 Kentucky Derby winner, took the Epsom Coronation Cup for Bert Mitchell in 1929, and in 1991, Leo O'Brien prepped Fourstars Allstar to win the Irish 2000 Guineas under Mike Smith at The Curragh.

If anyone is likely to match Ward's "Great-British" feat, I suspect they'll go about it in similar fashion -- bringing speed-laden American-bred juveniles to out-drag-race their European cousins down the undulating Ascot straight. And I'm a little surprised it took someone this long to figure it out.

More power to Wesley Ward for so doing.

As Rachel waits, Derby winner dangles

Here we are, less than a week from the Belmont Stakes draw, with no commitment made from the Rachel Alexandra camp about whether the phenomenal filly will be present for a rematch with Derby winner Mine That Bird, whom she bested in the Preakness.

The Blood-Horse's Steve Haskin muses about why that might be, and speculates -- I think correctly -- that Rachel's connections, including Jess Jackson's Stonestreet Stable, have to be at least 90 percent certain by now about what they're going to do. But Haskin notes that Jackson has given conflicting signals, including statements that they'd know by last Monday whether Rachel was ready; now we'll know by this coming Monday, which for a mid-week draw and Saturday race is pretty much go-time.

Haskin writes that a decision on Monday is cutting it awfully close, and "leaves the NYRA marketing department up the proverbial creek without a paddle."

There's somebody else Jackson has left in a holding pattern: Mine That Bird.

By now I'm leaning heavily toward the notion that Rachel Alexandra won't run in the Belmont Stakes. My desire for a rematch aside, I think if she were my filly I wouldn't consider it the right spot for her.

Rachel opting out would leave her regular rider, Calvin Borel, free to reclaim the mount aboard Mine That Bird, a job he gave up when both horses were entered in the Preakness. Mike Smith rode Mine That Bird to second in that race, but has taken off the horse to stay out west next weekend and ride Madeo, a Jerry and Ann Moss horse, in the Grade 1 Charles Whittingham Memorial at Hollywood Park the same afternoon. Mine That Bird's trainer, Bennie Woolley Jr., has decided he'll wait and see whether Borel is available, and that means waiting out Jackson's decision on Rachel's Belmont future. Borel has even worked Woolley's horse in the interim.

I think Jackson might be tickled to make them sweat. After all, Mine That Bird's owner, Mark Allen, stuck Jackson and Co. in the sauna for a day when he, Ahmed Zayat and perhaps others gave serious consideration to blocking Rachel Alexandra from the Preakness by entering enough nominated, but undeserving, colts. All Jackson could do was dab at his brow for hours, until the Derby winner's connections and Zayat publicly changed their minds.

The Belmont-decision delay might just be Jackson's chance at a little turnabout. You made me wait and see whether my horse would run at Pimlico; I'll make you wait and see whether you get your jockey back for Belmont.

If so, that's the stuff good rivalries are made of.

'Bird flipped-off by another jockey

What's a Derby winner gotta do to keep a jockey?

Mine That Bird -- surprise and impressive winner of the Kentucky Derby and hard-charging runner-up in the Preakness Stakes -- has lost his second rider in as many races. Thoroughbred Times reports that hall-of-famer Mike Smith had to ask off the horse for the June 6 Belmont Stakes due to a prior commitment.

Smith was already confirmed to ride G2 winner Madeo in the Charles Whittingham Memorial H.-G1 at Hollywood Park the same day. Madeo is owned by Jerry and Ann Moss and trained by John Shirreffs, connections of Smith's own Derby-winning mount, Giacomo, and of 2008 champion mare Zenyatta. Smith was or is the regular rider of both.

Just as I couldn't blame Calvin Borel for taking off Mine That Bird to stick with potential champion Rachel Alexandra -- with whom he beat the 'Bird in the Preakness -- it's hard to fault Smith here for not going back on his word to the Mosses and Shirreffs. They consistently give him top horses to ride. He needs to keep his commitments to them and maintain that relationship.

Conversely, as good as Mine That Bird is, who knows when -- if ever -- Double Eagle Stables, Buene Suerte Equine and trainer Bennie Woolley Jr. will have this kind of horse again? And would they be sure to hand the reins to Smith even if they did?

Still, Woolley's reaction is both predictable and understandable.

"It's kinda funny," he said. "You'd think if you get a horse this good, you'd keep (a jockey), but apparently not."

Woolley said he'd close a deal with a new rider in a matter of days, not waiting to see whether Rachel Alexandra is entered in the Belmont. If she isn't, of course, he could try to reunite Mine That Bird with Borel, awkward though that might be. But it sounds like that idea is written-off already or Woolley would stall at least for a few days to see whether Rachel's entry seems likely.

Five reasons why Mine That Bird will win the Preakness

What, you thought I gave the Kentucky Derby winner no chance in Saturday's Preakness Stakes?

1. Bye-bye, Borel: Believe it or not, I don't think Mine That Bird needs Calvin Borel. Though the jockey's ride in the Derby was masterful, the gelding has shown that he can win without him. Mine That Bird has five wins from nine starts, and those victories have come with three different jockeys; Chantal Sutherland is the leader with three. This loss of jockey really could be much ado about nothing when it comes to race-riding at Pimlico. In fact, if what trainer Bennie Woolley Jr. and primary owner Mark Allen want from the horse is to be taken back early (done in part by necessity and in part by design in the Derby, to great success), replacement jock Mike Smith is among the best at winning with a deep closer. (Remember Giacomo?) ... Besides, Borel, a 14-percent winner in 2009, is at his best at Churchill. The guy getting the pickup mount is a hall-of-famer winning at 18 percent. How bad a trade is that, really?

2. Rachel Won't Win: I'm not saying that's a surety, I'm just saying that Rachel Alexandra as favorite -- probably heavy favorite -- isn't as sure a thing as the final odds (whatever they might be) are likely to suggest. And not just because she's a filly (though it plays a role; first race against boys, her toughest field ever, etc.). Look what's being asked of her. She's won five straight, and streaks do typically end. She switches barns, from Hal Wiggins, who obviously knew her well, to Steve Asmussen, who (despite, no doubt, talks with Wiggins), hardly knows her at all. Shipped to Pimlico, new stall, new grooms, new regimen. ... Tall order.

3. The Race Sets Up For Him: Another point against Rachel, for starters. She draws the 13-hole, which superstitiously is a negative, and could be practically, as well. A filly who runs up front -- no further than a head off the lead in her five straight wins -- Rachel might have to spend considerable energy early to draw clear and be able to drop over toward the rail to avoid being hung out very wide on the far turn; especially if one of the boys on the inside decides to make it extra-tough on the filly. Meanwhile, 'Bird sits in the 2-hole with fairly fleet Big Drama to his inside, permitting Smith to take back only a little and get right on the rail to save ground. He can sit second or he can sit 12th, it's up to him and his horse. (See free Daily Racing Form Preakness PPs here.)

4. Remember His 'Dirty Little Secret?' Well, Forget It: Yesterday I noted Mine That Bird's two efforts over a fast, conventional dirt track have not been nearly good enough to win a Grade 1 race. (They weren't good enough to twin two ungraded stakes races.) A fast strip at Pimlico could be a problem. It also could be a moot point. The Weather Channel's hour-by-hour forecast predicts a 30 percent chance of rain or thunderstorms almost straight through in the 24-plus hours from 6 p.m. Preakness Eve, to the 6:15 Saturday evening post time. And the chance of rain escalates in the forecast to 50 percent shortly after the race, and 60 percent throughout Saturday night. If the track takes on moisture at any time after the Black Eyed Susan card today, and if the heavier or at least more-probable rain comes in just a little earlier than the advance forecast predicts, the field could find itself playing in the Derby champion's birdbath, much to his contentment.

5. David vs. Goliath (or, 'The Birdstone Factor'): In this case, Goliath is a girl, and a talented field she leads, and fate, and the odds, which will still be somewhat stacked against this little gelding, although hardly 50-1 as they were on Derby Day. He's a little guy -- by some reports barely 15 hands -- facing a monumental task. But so was his sire, Birdstone, on the day he stole the Belmont Stakes and a Triple Crown from Smarty Jones at 36-1 odds. Don't doubt for a minute that heart and a spirit can flow from sire and dam to son and daughter, just as surely as more tangible attributes such as color, stature, speed and stamina. Then there are the Preakness myths, of almost biblical proportions, primed for the little hero to overcome. ... "Pimlico is speed-favoring, and the traffic can make it even harder on a closer." He can get through; he's a small horse. ... "But the turns at Pimlico are so tight!" Did you forget he's a small horse? ... "But it is just too big a task." The bigger they come, the harder they fall; eh, Goliath? ... Maybe this 'Bird is just the "David" to do it.