Calling it “one of the most important moments at Oaklawn and in Arkansas sports,” Oaklawn president Charles J. Cella announced on February 4 that Oaklawn will increase the purse of the April 3, GI Apple Blossom to $5 million, provided 2009 Horse of the Year, Rachel Alexandra, and undefeated champion Zenyatta both start.
At a morning press conference, Cella reported that he had spoken with Jess Jackson, majority owner of Rachel Alexandra, and Jerry Moss, owner of Zenyatta, and both men expressed enthusiasm, provided that their horses are in condition for the race.
Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta were unanimous 2009 Eclipse Award winners in their respective divisions (3-year-old filly and older female ) and were the only finalists in one of the closest ballots in recent memory for horse racing’s highest honor, the Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year.
Oaklawn is considered the ideal “neutral ground” for the dream match-up because both mares have used the Arkansas oval as a launching pad to future success.
As a lightly-raced but promising 4-year-old in 2008, Zenyatta captured her first Grade 1 victory in that year’s Apple Blossom, beating then reigning champion Ginger Punch among others in her only start outside of California and her only start on a conventional dirt surface.
She has since gone on to post a perfect 14-for-14 record, highlighted by her victory in the 2008 Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic and her victory against males in the 2009 Breeders’ Cup Classic, in what was believed, at the time, to be the final race of her career.
Rachel Alexandra kicked off her three-year-old campaign at Oaklawn with strong wins in the Martha Washington and the Fantasy Stakes. Her record victory in the Kentucky Oaks the day before the Kentucky Derby clearly stamped her as the best three-year-old filly in the nation.
She proved more than that in her next start, where she became the first filly in 85 years to win the Preakness Stakes. Four months later she became the first three-year-old filly to win the Woodward Stakes against older males.
If both Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta start, this year’s Apple Blossom will be an invitational event with the traditional 1 1/16-mile distance extended to 1 1/8-mile and other leaders in the filly and mare divisions invited to participate. The $5 million purse will be the largest for a filly and mare race in the history of North American thoroughbred racing and will match North America’s current richest purse, the Breeders Cup Classic.
Should Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta fail to start, the Grade I Apple Blossom will revert to its original status as of February 3, with a purse of $500,000.