Waiting for Rachel: It's Worth Getting Up, or Staying Up, to See the Filly

Waiting for Rachel, originally uploaded by budmeister 26.2.

One of the "happening" places on the horse world map every August is Saratoga Springs, New York. It's been happening there for horses for over 150 years, and not much has changed. The track that launched Man o' War and Secretariat into national prominence looks much the same now as then.

This summer, the happening hype is magnified by the presence of a true sports celebrity, in the form of champion filly Rachel Alexandra.

When the filly leaves her stall, the word travels fast. When a work is scheduled, the curious gather. The Saratoga Special reported that 67 people lined the rail in the post-dawn light on Monday when Rachel worked on Saratoga's Oklahoma training track. Secretariat's public works attracted thousands back in the 1970s.

The faithful arrived early. Staked out a spot. And waited for the sun to come up, which it does in a very beautiful way in Saratoga.

Across the street, Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird has joined the Saratoga summer crowd of fine three-year-olds training up to next Saturday's Travers Stakes, the "mid-summer derby". Summer Bird, Quality Road and Kensai attract the curious, too. They're all here.

The question is if they will meet each other next Saturday on the main track. So far, everyone appears to be in fine condition.

Dawn at Saratoga, waiting for the champ to gallop by: this is the place to be.

Thanks to Budmeister 26.2 for capturing so beautifully a could-only-be-Saratoga silhouette.

Kentucky Derby Barbie, Meet Backstretch Barbie: Which Would You Buy?

by Fran Jurga | 3 April 2009 | The Jurga Report

The Louisville's Courier-Journal tells us that the Kentucky Derby Museum's gift shop's shelves are stocked with a special commemorative Kentucky Derby Barbie doll. And I'm still scratching my head.

I guess my initial reaction is surprise. They still make Barbie dolls? People still buy them?

My next reaction was more positive, as in: Wow, Mattel thinks that horse racing is worthy of creating a commemorative doll. Maybe the industry isn't as deep in the gutter as it thinks it is.

But if we lived in a perfect world, which we don’t, how great would it be to give shoppers and collectors a choice of dolls? Yes, you do think of women in hats and fab frocks on Derby Day, because that’s what the media shows us.

But what about the women on the backside of the racetrack--shouldn't they be portrayed in a doll? Little girls could choose either the frock-and-heels Turf Club Barbie or maybe Backstretch Barbie, an exercise rider dressed in black fringed chaps, with some great tattoos, a body protector vest and a jock helmet with cool goggles.

Exercise riders have arms even Michelle Obama would envy...

One of my key memories of last year's Belmont was when exercise rider/assistant trainer Michelle Nevin ran out into the deep track toward Big Brown as he was pulled up at the finish. She was dressed in her in-case-we-get-to-the-winners-circle clothes and looked so different from the athletic figure who'd been photographed in her work clothes a million times in the months running up to that moment. You wouldn't have recognized her on the street.

Every summer, the thought flashes before me that the New York Times is missing a great photo feature for the Style section by not doing a fashion shoot of the exercise riders at Saratoga--male and female. I could see an assemblage of them on the cover of Vanity Fair. Annie Leibovitz, are you reading this?

Maybe flowered-frock Barbie is the image the Derby's marketing department wants to project. But little girls would think that Backstretch Barbie was Way Cool. She's got style, and the attitude and guts to pull it off.

And how about a sunburned Infield Barbie, wearing a tank-top, cutoffs and carrying a Churchill Downs beer cooler?

Thanks to Sarah K. Andrew of Rock and Racehorses equine photography for her use of the photo of Saratoga exercise riders. Sarah writes, "I owned exactly one Barbie, and her only purpose in life was to ride the Barbie Horse."

Kentucky Derby Barbie is for sale online for $47 at the Kentucky Derby Store web site. Maybe, like Michelle Nevin, she comes with a change of clothes.

Web Tip: Worth a Read for Barbaro Fans (and Writers)

A quick heads up: here's a link to an "opinion" piece from The Blood-Horse by Sean Clancy, author of the new book on Barbaro from Eclipse Press. Sean reflects on what it was like to write a book without knowing the ending.

If you are a fan of good writing about horses, remember Sean's name. And also learn the name of his brother/partner, Joe. Sean's style is Red-Smith-meets-Jack-Kerouac but this former steeplechase rider knows his way around a racetrack and always manages to punch up the prose until I think, "Why don't more horse sports journalists (including me) write like that?"

Here's the link to the Blood-Horse piece:
http://opinions.bloodhorse.com/viewstory.asp?id=37454

For more of Sean's excellent writing (and manic moments) on the racing scene, go to his site and read some of his "Cup of Coffee" editorials in the Saratoga Special back issues, or pick up a copy of the Clancy brothers latest book, Best of the Saratoga Special.

I can't wait to read his account of Barbaro's life...and wish I could have been a fly on the wall (or had a seat at the table) when he shared that bottle of wine with Dr. Dean Richardson...