September 29, 2010

Farewell to My Champion

This will not be my grand send off to Rachel Alexandra, that will come later. For now, I only want to offer a few words to all of her wonderful fans, who like me, fell hard for the beautiful girl. Personally, I fell in love with Rachel during a couple of Autumn stakes races at Churchill Downs of her juvenile year. I saw something then that enlivened my heart, thrilled my mind, and transformed me into a little boy again. I have never been disappointed one second in being her devoted fan ever since. Rachel will be missed dearly. I find it difficult to wrap my head around never seeing her run another race right now. Like all things in life though, we move on, as Rachel will. When I look back at the last two years, I am left with fantastic memories that elicited powerful emotions both then and now. I need to say thank you for everything that Rachel did for me. It has been a wonderful ride, and in fact I started writing about horses because of her. There would be no blog here if it was not for Rachel Alexandra. I wish her a long and happy lifetime as she embarks on a new stage of her life. I look forward to the day when I can feed her a carrot and reminisce. See you soon girl.

15 comments:

RachelAlex said...

Brian,

I will miss her dearly and miss your writing about her. I was set to go down to Belmont this weekend. At least I got to see her at Saratoga.

I look forward to your full farewell to her.

It's a very bittersweet ending and I wish her a long and happy life.

Ernie Munick said...

Hear here!

Thanks for all your Rachel love, and for all your passion and industry in general.

Brian Zipse said...

Thank you RachelAlex and Ernie for sharing a common love with me. We'll always have Rachel.

markinsac said...

I sure hope Rachel's and Curlin's baby is good, no great like his/her parents. And I hope Zenyatta's and ????????'s baby is just as great. I'm dreaming here, maybe we can have the showdown sometime in a few years. I think J. Jackson should have a contest to name Rachel's baby . . . girl: HOTY Rachel, boy: Alex Curls. Ok, just a thought.

Anonymous said...

I have no words, just tears. I have been blessed to be one of the lucky ones to have seen her in person. She was amazing and so was the experience. Thank you, Rachel! You will be missed.

Jeanetta Lucier said...

I wasn't lucky enough to see her in person...but just being able to see her on TV, being able to read about her, being able to experience the excitement, joy, and love shared by so many for the beautiful girl...I thank her for that.

No other horse has ever done to me what she has. I don't know if any other horse ever will.

Rachel - So sad I'll never see you race again, but I'm SO thankful for the exciting, heart-pounding, awe-inspiring, amazing 19 races you gave me. I love you, Rach.

Heather said...

If you want to tear up a bit reliving her 2009 season, there is no better summary I've found than this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8kRDFNFIl8

Anonymous said...

My life is not worth living now that Rachel is gone.

Brian Zipse said...

***I sincerely hope the most recent comment on today's blog was only a joke ... if not, please message me to talk.***

Anonymous said...

Yes, your life is worth living. I hope you are not serious, please.

I will miss Rachel so much, but she gave everything she had to give. I think the connections made the right decision. No one can ever take away anything from the efforts she gave every time she stepped foot on the track. Good luck, Champion Rachel.

Doame

Anonymous said...

Rachel is not gone by any means! Just think of all the Rachel babies we will now be ablle to follow and with everyone of them we eill get a new rememberance of her greatness!

Sami13 said...

Brian, we shall all miss this dear horse. I was sooo lucky to be able to witness her last race, but i'm also excited to see curlin and her's foal!!

joani said...

sentiments shared. Thanks for always backing our girl...win or lose. She brought tears in happiness and in sadness. Rock and Roll Rachel, darling!

afleetalexforever said...

As a fan of horse racing i've enjoyed some greats in my life time, Cigar, Invasor, Barbaro, Smarty Jones, Afleet Alex and Curlin. But Raitch, she was something different, she wanted to run all day long, she wanted to decimate the competition and for a female that is unheard of to an extent. From seeing her workout at Oaklawn the very first time back during the winter of 2009 to seeing her beat the males live in the Woodward, everything she did amazed, and i will never forget the call of Tom Durkin that day, "She really is Rachel Alexandra The Great"

Sharon M said...

I was not able to see Rachel in person either unfortunately. I was so looking forward to seeing her in Louisville at the Breeders Cup as we all were. Obviously, that was never meant to be. She was a bright shining star that we were able to enjoy for a while, and all I can say is I loved to watch her run, win or lose. I very much look forward to your finale article for her, Brian. I know you will do our girl justice!