Rachel Does New Jersey

The Jersey Shore is unlike any other place on earth. Big hair and sub shops. Speedos worn by guys named Vinnie and mini golf. Traffic on the Parkway and slices on the beach. Skee ball and teeny-weeny bikinis. It takes someone special to thrive in these type of surroundings. Bruce Springsteen comes to mind ... and now we have Rachel. Get ready Jersey Shore-ites, Rachel is back! The New Jersey oval by the shore was able to pull off quite a coup thanks to a lot of hard work. After literally months of courting owner Jess Jackson, Monmouth Park filled their dance card with a big fish, or make that a big horse, in one Miss Rachel Alexandra. Saying no, much to the dismay of the good folks at NYRA, to the Grade 1 Ruffian next week, Rachel will return to the sight of her greatest performance, to run tomorrow in Monmouth’s Lady’s Secret Stakes. That’s right I said it, I consider her Haskell run of 2009 to be even greater than when she became the first female in 80 years to win the Preakness Stakes. It was more impressive to me, than when she became the first filly ever to win the prestigious Woodward. It was better than the 20 length thrashing she gave to her overmatched foes in the Kentucky Oaks, and I was more impressed by the Haskell than when she won the Mother Goose by 19, geared down late, and run in record time. The Haskell was the only race where she faced the top three-year-old male of 2009, Summer Bird. It proved to be no contest. Rachel ran away from Summer Bird that day as if he was just another jersey-bred hoping to cash a second place check. Calvin Borel gave a twirl of the whip at the top of the stretch, and “poof!” she was gone. In winning the meeting of soon to be champions by an easy six lengths, Rachel did the Jersey Shore thing that day the likes of which has not been seen in many a day. It is only fitting that she should make a return engagement to Monmouth and give her Garden State fans what they have been waiting for since 12 months before. With the field for the Lady’s Secret coming up decidedly weak, it is not so much a question of whether our heroine will win, but rather how she will do it tomorrow.  What will we see?  A winning margin of 10, 15, 20 lengths?  A time even faster than the 1:47 1/5 she ran in the Haskell?  Expect a show, I know I do. Rachel does New Jersey II … do not miss it!