Rachel Alexandra and Zardana have their rematch

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) April 29, 2010 -- I’m putting this in today because I don’t want time to sneak up on you Friday. Rachel Alexandra and Zardana have their rematch in Churchill’s 6th race, the La Troienne.  As Rachel’s trainer Steve Asmussen put it, “It will be a well watched 1:26 in the afternoon race, won’t it?” That’s 1:26 Eastern. Check your local time zone. Probably the earliest hour that a defending Horse of the Year has ever run. Since ESPN gave up covering the Friday undercard last year, the race won’t be on real TV.
 

The La Troienne begins an all-stakes pick 6 that concludes with the Kentucky Oaks. Asmussen says Rachel is much fitter now than she was at the Fair Grounds and Blind Luck is a deserving 6-5 Oaks choice. If you assume both are worthy, you can turn it into a pick 4. The 10th race, the American Turf Stakes, features Setsuko, excluded from the Derby due to a lack of graded earnings. He has trained beautifully here but will probably be a shorter price than he should be because of all the Derby publicity. Todd Pletcher has a horse named Doubles Partner in the race for Winstar farm. He’s never been closer than 11 lengths on dirt or synthetic, but 2 for 2 on the lawn.   
 

The Saturday weather forecast continues to get worse. The official estimate is 70% chance of rain and the talk is 2 to 3 inches. So, it’s probably time to factor a wet track into your Derby day handicapping. If it doesn’t happen, we can all rejoice and not worry about wasted effort. Half of the field has never run on an off track and no one has more than two wet track starts. However, most have trained over a wet track, as it rained here for several days. You’ll notice in the form that the last works for all except Backtalk and Jackson Bend were over something other than a fast track.  So at least it won’t be a brand new experience.
Follow Tom Dawson through the Kentucky Oaks and the 136th Kentucky Derby.

Kentucky Derby     Rachel Alexandra     Steve Asmussen