A Message To Jess Jackson

[covelj70]

I believe Kensei\'s best coming in was a 1.  Not sure if he set a new top this weekend but I would think that Mine that Bird and Summer Bird would both handle him pretty easily with their bigger numbers they could run back to second off the layoff, especially on a track where its possible to close so you don\'t have to take deep closers out of their game by keeping them closer to the pace than they want to be.

I also thought the horse that won the Curlin Stakes, Blame, looked good yesterday and he might have gotten down to a good number with that effort yesterday but he\'s already improved alot this year so I don\'t think it would be right to assume another move forward from him in the Travers but it\'s not totally out of the question either.

High class problem for Jackson to have one of the favs for the Travers even if he runs his THREE YEAR OLD FILLY in the Woodward. Sick!

[smalltimer]

I do think the more negative press Zenyatta\'s connections get, the more likely they will be to answer back.  I wish they were willing to be more aggressive in her campaign because they\'re getting butchered by their current plan, and it\'s not gonna stop anytime soon. You\'d almost think they\'d say \"enough\'s enough, let\'s go to the East Coast.\"

[TGJB]

Z\'s connections are better off running aginst Rachel before the BC. First of all, one or the other might not be able to make it, which works against Z. Second, if she gets beat she can always come back in the Classic and regain her rep by winning. If they run in the Woodward (or Ruffian) she\'ll have plenty of time before the BC. Woodward has the advantage for both fillies of being weight for age, not handicap.

On the other hand, beating Rachel on dirt if she fires anything close to her best shot is unlikely enough without spotting her weight as a 3yo-- no matter when they meet.

[MO]

It seems to me that Rachel is winning her races a lot easier than Curlin was. She is so dominating that she should be able to beat EVERY horse in America on broken glass.

Come on Jess. I\'ve only had pocket aces cracked once in my life. You have the best hand, \"shove all your chips in preflop\". You have pocket Aces, and Zenyatta is \"pocket Kings\". So what if you lose the BC. You still have the HOTY! And 2nd money in the BC aint too shabby - could feed a small country for a day. Hmmmmmmm.

[Silver Charm]

TGJB thanks for weighing in and adding some perspective to a history making year and series of events.

HOY is all but over. Rachel is faster and has taken more risks than anyone. Colt or mare.

She embarrased a decent field yesterday and yet the fans still scream they want more.

Travers, Woodward, Zenyatta, BC Classic, Cigar Mile. Where does it stop?  

I guess when \"The Jess Jackson Sucks\" string gets started we will know we are there.

[mlnolan00]

Not quite a \"Jess Jackson Sucks\" article but not very complimentary either.

http://www.paulickreport.com/blog/jackson-acting-like-a-spoiled-kid/

Personally I think all attacks on him are unfair.  If you want to \"blame\" anyone, why not the BC?  They seem the most culpable in all this for keeping the BC @ OSA and depriving us of the match up we\'ve been waiting for.

Just a side wager-->better animal thus far: Rachel or Big Brown?

[Cartman]

I don\'t think Zenyatta\'s speed figures and winning margins are doing her justice. I\'m not even sure you can compare slow paced synthetic races to fast paced dirt races using any of the standard handicapping methods. She\'s not getting proper credit among most handicappers because the races aren\'t fast and you can\'t win big on synthetic (especially with her running style).

Zenyatta is also a horse for the ages. She proved that in last year\'s Ladies Classic when she mowed down one of the best filly fields ever assembled in that race. She ran by them while extremely wide like they were a bunch of claimers.

Rachel will have an edge on dirt because of Zenyatta\'s running style, but I think Zenyatta proved her ability to handle dirt last year. So it could get interesting. That goes double because Zenyatta is probably just now getting into her best stride for 2009 and it\'s hard to imagine RA doing anything but starting to tail off from here.

If we don\'t get to see that match, it will be the one disappointing development in what has otherwise been a stellar year of racing so far.

[Lost Cause]

TGJB Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>> Evidently Rachel is pointing for the Woodward,
> which is a good idea (5 weeks). That spot would
> also give Zenyatta 4 weeks after the Hirsch. Think
> they could sell tv rights to that one?


Is the Woodward a 1 1/8 race?  If so I think that\'s a better race for her too.  I don\'t think I like her as much going 1 1/4 against the boys.  Just my opinion.

[jimbo66]

Covelj,

I am not sure this is a mediocre class of 3 year olds, maybe it is, or maybe Rachel is one of the top 5 horses of all time (horses, not fillies) and she makes them look mediocre.  

But regardless of Rachel, Quality Road is not mediocre, by any standard.  Given a choice of seeing Rachel race in the Woodward against the medicore older horses, or see her race against Quality Road in the Travers, I would take her in the Travers.  Quality Road, on his best, can run with Rachel.  His races in Florida early this year were very very fast, and the \"re-break\" he crushed Dunkirk with in the Florida Derby was something special.  Quality Road is much much better than Summer Bird and Mine that Bird, who are nice horses, but not fast enough to compete with Rachel, unless she is off.  

Whether Quality Road can fire his best shot, at a demanding 1 1/4 at Saratoga, off just a 6 1/2 furlong prep, is questionable, but the colt is brilliant.

[jimbo66]

I will take the other side of all the people on this thread asking for Jess Jackson to change his mind.  

Yeah, let\'s push the owner of the horse who has run at 7 different tracks in six different states this year to now take his horse and run her on plastic against Zenyatta, who hasn\'t left California in over a year because Shirreffs and the owner are worried about shipping her in and out of California 5 months before the Breeders Cup.  Oh year, I forgot, once she was willing to run against Fleet Caroline before it got windy or rainy at Churchill and they scratched her.  That Churchill surface was in better shape than the Monmouth one was this weekend.

Jess JAckson should stand pat and skip the Breeders Cup.  Here\'s hoping he doesn\'t change his mind.  The calls on this board from the left coast apologists should be to Shirreffs and the connections to actually try racing Zenyatta.  Is anybody even going to watch the race at Delmar with Zenyatta this weekend?  Equal weights against slow horses on plastic.  

Jackson is a sportsman.  As I and some others posted before his run in the Preakness, he was taking an \"all down side and no upside\" approach by running her in the Preakness off short rest.  While everybody worried about breaddowns and the filly losing her form, she blew away that field, crushed fillies by 20 again, and now blasted the best of the 3 year old colts again at Monmouth while 4w/3w, running a 116 beyer.  Now she contemplates a run against older colts or taking on 3 year old colts in the Travers at 1 1/4.  While Nero (aka Shirreffs) fiddles.....

[covelj70]

Jimbo,

couldn\'t agree more, I think I even suggested this in one of my posts that QR is the one who has the best chance of keeping up with her if the Amsterdam didn\'t knock him out.  He is far from medicore, maybe even brillant.  I like him alot.

Would love to see these two hook up in the Travers.

[Cartman]

There was little reputation downside to running RA in the Preakness and Haskell. If she won, it was all glory. If she lost, well, she\'d still be one of the all time great fillies that lost to colts.

Zenyatta has more to lose in a match-up with RA.

Right now many people consider her a slow synthetic horse that has been beating up on non-entities and horses that don\'t like plastic even though she beat a top horse on dirt in her one try and also won a very strong edition of the BC. I\'d be willing to bet that our host thinks she\'s a mediocrity too. Personally, I disagree with that view strongly, but that would be the perception.

If she shipped to face RA where RA would clearly have the tactical advantage and lost (likely), she\'d forever be considered a mediocre synthetic horse.

If I controlled her I would take her out of CA to prove she\'s actually great and can earn fast figures on dirt, but I\'d have no inclination to face RA on dirt unless I could do so at 10F to at least try to even the playing field or get the tactical advantage.

We couldn\'t be calling out Rachel Alexandra to face Zarkava at 12F on turf where she would have the tactical advantage?

In fact, I think Zarkava may be better than both of them!

[Silver Charm]

First Ray Paulick and now Cartman, Jess.

People think this is the Olympic High Jump or Pole Vault where no matter how high you went last jump, you now gotta go two inches higher

Whether you like it or not..........

[Silver Charm]

Let\'s get that one on the to do list also............

[Lost Cause]

Silver Charm Wrote:
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> Let\'s get that one on the to do list
> also............


It would only be a week\'s rest..she would definitely bounce.