The “Race for the Ages” that racing fans have been clamoring for since last summer is a go.
Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta, two of the greatest racemares in history, finally will meet for a $5 million purse in the Apple Blossom Invitational at Oaklawn Park on April 9, after the race was rescheduled yesterday from April 3.
The long-awaited showdown looked dead Wednesday when Jess Jackson, owner of Rachel Alexandra, said his 2009 Horse of the Year, who hasn’t raced since winning the Woodward on Sept. 5, would not be ready to face Zenyatta by April 3.
But Oaklawn Park owner Charles Cella, who first proposed boosting the Apple Blossom purse from $500,000 to $5 million if Rachel and Zenyatta ran, got Jackson and Zenyatta’s owner, Jerry Moss, to agree they would run if the date were pushed back six days, to the Friday before the April 10 Arkansas Derby.
“I thought both sides had signed on [to the original proposal], so when it fell apart, I was in total shock,” Cella told The Post yesterday. “But I got on the horn and talked to them most of the night and this morning. I think both owners realize they have some sort of responsibility to the public.
“Now they are both absolutely committed, and we are thrilled about it. The response to the idea of these two horses meeting has been amazing. We’ve been calling it the ‘Race for the Ages,’ and I think it really is.”
“Alexandra the Great” went 8-for-8 last year, winning the Kentucky Oaks by 20 lengths, beating colts in the Preakness and Haskell, and concluding her campaign with a hard-fought score over older males in the Woodward.
The “Zen Master” is undefeated in 14 starts, with five of those wins coming last year, including a stirring victory in the Nov. 7 Breeders’ Cup Classic when she became the first female to win that event.
Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta were the only two finalists for Horse of the Year, which Rachel won in a vote that bitterly split their legions of fans. Zenyatta was scheduled to be retired after the Breeders’ Cup, but Moss, deeply disappointed that Zenyatta was the runner-up, decided to keep her in training for another year.
Zenyatta is based in California, where she has won 13 races on synthetic surfaces. Her only win on a dirt track came in the 2008 Apple Blossom, which she won by 4½ lengths. Rachel won two stakes last year at Oaklawn, so the site is custom-made for both super mares.
Rachel is expected to make her first start of this year in a race at the Fair Grounds on March 13, and Zenyatta should race the same day at Santa Anita.
“I understand the concerns of all competitors in needing a prep race for a race of this magnitude,” Cella said. “Both parties want this to happen when their champions are at their absolute peak. This [new] date makes that possible.”