Separated by nearly 2,500 miles and three time zones, the nation's top two female horses, unbeaten Zenyatta and Preakness Stakes winner Rachel Alexandra, will race today at the identical distance of 1 1/8 miles in Grade I stakes, giving fans an opportunity to compare, contrast and admire racing's two brightest stars.
Zenyatta, a 5-year-old mare who has won all 10 of her races, will carry an imposing 129 pounds in the $300,000 Vanity Handicap run as the fourth race at Hollywood Park.
Rachel Alexandra, a 3-year-old filly who has won six consecutive races, will race 13 minutes earlier in the $300,000 Mother Goose Stakes at Belmont Park.
In the racing office at Santa Anita, racing secretary Rick Hammerle has been dreaming. He imagines a match between Zenyatta, the amazon of the West Coast, and Rachel Alexandra, the pride of the East Coast who conquered the boys in the Preakness.
"I dream they'd just come together in a race," Hammerle said.
Each will go off the odds-on favorite today, but Jess Jackson, the owner of Rachel Alexandra, has ruled out running his horse this fall at Santa Anita in the Breeders' Cup because of the track's synthetic surface, denying a possible meeting against Zenyatta on racing's biggest weekend.
If this were the 1970s, a match race would seem likely. That was when match races were popular.
There was the 1972 match race at Hollywood Park between the 6-year-old mare Typecast and the 4-year-old filly Convenience that drew more than 53,000 spectators for a $250,000 winner-take-all purse that ended with Convenience and jockey Jerry Lambert beating Typecast and jockey Bill Shoemaker by a nose. In 1974, the 3-year-old champion filly Chris Evert beat Miss Musket by 50 lengths in a $250,000 match race at Hollywood Park.
But match races soon lost their appeal because of what happened July 6, 1975.
The nationally televised match race between Kentucky Derby winner Foolish Pleasure and the unbeaten filly Ruffian ended in tragedy. Ruffian broke down and was later buried in the infield at Belmont Park.
The sad memories from that ill-fated day aren't the only obstacle to holding a match race in the 21st century.
"There's too many combinations of things to happen," Hammerle said. "You need two marquee horses. You need two owners willing to do it and say, 'Hey, I'm in.' "
Someone would have to put up big money and then come the negotiations over where to run, how long the race would be and when to race.
