Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta are Hall of Fame bound
Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta. Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra. Although they never raced each other, the two names will forever be intertwined in the hearts and minds of 21st century race fans. Together, they will enter Racing’s Hall of Fame as the biggest stars of the 2016 class this summer in Saratoga Springs. That ultimate honor will come on Friday, August 12 at the Fasig-Tipton Sales Pavilion, but for now they officially top the list of ten nominations selected by the Hall of Fame’s 16-member nominating committee.
Joining the two sure fire, first-ballot Hall of Famers on the nomination list are a pair of other horses, four jockeys and two trainers. The remaining eight finalists include turf champion English Channel, and the durable and talented sprinter Kona Gold, top jockeys Ramon Dominguez, Garrett Gomez, Victor Espinoza and Craig Perret, as well as successful trainers Steve Asmussen and David Whiteley. While a maximum of four of the nominations can be inducted this year, we know two of them will be two of the most popular race horses of the last quarter century. The careers of Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta overlapped, but neither great female horse was able to overshadow the accomplishments of the other.
Rachel Alexandra was first conditioned by Hal Wiggins. Under his guidance, she developed from beaten in her career debut, to a winner of five straight graded stakes in dominating fashion. In her final start for Wiggins, she won the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks as no other filly has ever done, winning by more than 20 lengths. After that most memorable performance, Rachel Alexandra was privately purchased by Jess Jackson’s Stonestreet Stables. The history making victories would continue for the superstar three-year-old filly.
Transferred to the barn of fellow Hall of Fame nominee, Steve Asmussen, Rachel Alexandra would turn in a brave performance to become the first female horse in 85 years to win the middle jewel of the Triple Crown. She followed up her Preakness victory with a near 20-length romp in the Grade 1 Mother Goose, before again beating the males in the Grade 1 Haskell. Her sixth-length romp at Monmouth came at the direct expense of the soon to be male champion, Summer Bird. Her magnificent sophomore season concluded with a gutsy victory over older males in the Grade 1 Woodward in front of a raucous crowd at Saratoga. The victory was her eighth without defeat that season. She was recognized as the 2009 Horse of the Year in what many consider the greatest season every by a three-year-old filly. Also a graded stakes winner at two and four, all told Rachel Alexandra earned better than $3.5 million, while compiling a record of 19-13-5-0.
While Rachel Alexandra dazzled early in her career, Zenyatta was still a work in progress at three. Patiently handled by trainer John Shireffs, Zenyatta did not make her career debut until late November for owners, Jerry and Ann Moss, but when she was ready to run the wins came, and they never stopped coming until the culmination of her career three years later. California’s Queen, the big Guinness drinking mare retired with a tantalizingly close to perfect record of 19 wins from 20 starts. Of course, that lone loss came in her final career race, when she just missed running down Blame in the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Classic. The narrow loss was not enough to prevent Zenyatta from winning the Horse of the Year Award one year after Rachel Alexandra had. It was one of four Eclipse Awards for the personable mare, who won over $7 million in earnings.
A daughter of Street Cry, Zenyatta earned her first Eclipse Award for Champion Older Mare in 2008 as a four-year-old, with wins in three Grade 1 races: the Apple Blossom, Vanity, and Lady’s Secret, before sweeping to her first Breeders’ Cup victory in what was then called the Ladies Classic. She came back at five with another undefeated season, including another trio of Grade 1 wins in the Vanity, Lady’s Secret and the Clement L. Hirsch, before trying males for the first time in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. It provided her with her biggest career victory, as she uncoiled her patented late run which proved irresistible to her decorated male competition, which clinched her second straight award as the land's best older female.
With Rachel Alexandra and Zenyata assuredly being voted in on their first attempt, that leaves a maximum of two spots available for the remaining eight nominees. First ballot nominee Ramon Dominguez and trainer Steve Asmussen might have the inside track to join the two great female runners.
Dominguez, was widely regarded as America’s top jockey before retiring in June 2013 after suffering a scary injury at Aqueduct several months earlier. He was granted special inclusion into this year’s voting due to the injury, which cut his career down to 18 years, rather than the normal requirement of 20. Recognized for his excellence, Dominguez was named the Eclipse Award winner for Outstanding Jockey three straight years from 2010 through 2012. He set a single-season earnings record in 2012 with over $25 million. Born and raised in Venezuela, the 39-year-old rider retired with 4,985 wins, 41 of which came in Grade 1 races, and earnings of over $191 million. Dominguez was the regular rider aboard such standouts as Havre de Grace, Gio Ponti, and Little Mike.
Asmussen is still going strong today, but has already amassed 7,248 wins and earnings of $237,490,264 in his training career. Five times the nation’s leader in wins, he was named the Eclipse Award winner as Outstanding Trainer two straight years in 2008 and 2009. Asmussen trained the winner of the Horse of the Year in three straight years from 2007 through 2009 with Curlin and Rachel Alexandra. Other champions trained by the 50-year-old include Kodiak Kowboy, My Miss Aurelia and Untapable. This will be his second attempt to get into the Hall of Fame, after being nominated in 2014 amid swirling PETA allegations, which have since been dismissed.
While the remaining six all boast Hall of Fame worthy careers, they could be at the mercy of a very strong year for nominees, making it even harder than usual for induction.
English Channel was one of America’s top turf horses for three years running. A winner of 13-of-23 lifetime and better than $5 million in earnings, the son of Smart Strike won two editions of both the United Nations and Joe Hirsch Turf Classic. He was named Champion Turf Male after his romping win in the 2007 Breeders’ Cup Turf at Monmouth Park. Kona Gold was named the Champion Sprinter of 2000, and he holds the distinction of running in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint in five straight years, with a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd to his record.
Victor Espinoza not only won the Triple Crown last year aboard American Pharoah, but he also won the first two-thirds of the Triple Crown with both War Emblem in 2002 and California Chrome in 2014, giving him seven classic wins in total. David Whiteley, is the son of Hall of Famer Frank Whiteley, and may be best known for training Coastal to defeat the great Spectacular Bid in his Belmont Stakes quest to sweep the Triple Crown. He also conditioned three female champions in Just A Game, Revidere, and Waya. Among the 4,415 wins in a nearly 40 year riding career of Craig Perret was the 1990 Kentucky Derby aboard Unbridled, and the 1987 Belmont aboard Bet Twice. Garret Gomez, was awarded two consecutive Eclipse Awards in 2007 and 2008, and won a total of 13 Breeders’ Cup races including the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Classic aboard Blame.