Rachel Alexandra-Zenyatta set for Apple Blossom confrontation

[tector]

Originally Posted by GPK

"Out of respect for the level of competition and then importance of this race, I have told Mr. Jackson it was not in the bet interest of the horse to race on April 3," Steve Asmussen, trainer of Rachel Alexandra, said in the press release. "Getting to this level of fitness after a six-month layoff takes time. If all goes according to schedule, and we don't have any further weather delays, the earliest we could have a prep race would be the middle of March. It is then not fair to Rachel to ask her to race again three weeks later."


Give me a f*cking break. Now I am a huge fan of Rachel (as PG would say, she's a STUD), but not fair to ask her to race again 3 weeks later??? FFS, just retire her then. What a crock of sh*t.

Quality Road just ran in very early February...he's next scheduled to start on Memorial Day. Maybe he gets a prep, maybe he doesn't. Welcome to the modern world.

I am an agnostic on the issue of whether horses are faster now than before (see that thread), but if they are it is just possible they are (in part) because of the way they are raced today. It's like people complaing "pitchers used to have 25% more starts per year, with 300% more complete games!" So? What does that tell me, beyond the numbers themselves? Are teams getting more or less out of their pitchers today by using them the way they do? Do you think every manager is an idiot and you know better?

Everybody fricking relax and be patient. It is just a horse race.