Rachel Alexandra shines in early drill under lights

Rachel Alexandra lent her star power to Churchill’s first morning under the lights (Reed Palmer Photography/Churchill Downs) Preakness S. (G1) and Kentucky Oaks (G1) heroine RACHEL ALEXANDRA (Medaglia d’Oro) helped usher in the era of night racing at Churchill Downs when the Steve Asmussen trainee worked a sparkling six furlongs under the temporary lights on Monday. The bay filly stepped onto the track around 5:30 a.m. (EDT) with Asmussen’s second set of horses and worked a very strong six furlongs in 1:12 over a fast surface. The work was easily the fastest of four at the distance, with the next-best recorded time being 1:13 4/5.  Exercise rider Dominic Terry was in the saddle as Rachel Alexandra covered the distance in splits of :12 2/5, :24 2/5, :36 2/5, :48 2/5 and 1:00 and galloped out seven furlongs in 1:24 4/5.

“She went super — she’s doing great,” Asmussen said. “She’s definitely been
stronger every week and she looks great.”

Rachel Alexandra has been unflappable throughout the spring, and Asmussen
said she handled training under the temporary lights just like she handles
everything else.

“She’s got a great presence about her,” Asmussen said. “She always seems to
take everything in stride so well.  She comes back so sure of herself.”

Asmussen said that the filly’s next target was still being assessed. Majority
owner Jess Jackson of Stonestreet Stables had earlier mentioned the $300,000
Mother Goose S. (G1) at 1 1/8 miles on June 27 at Belmont Park as a possible
spot for her return.

The track opened for its first-ever session of training under the lights at
4:57 a.m. Monday. Four minutes later, a set of three horses from the Bret
Calhoun barn came on the track at the five-eighths gap, led by Country Living
(Concerto).

A little after that, the first worker of the day, four-time stakes star SOK
SOK (Trippi) from the Asmussen barn, put in a five-furlong breeze in 1:04 3/5.
That paved the way for Asmussen’s second worker, Rachel Alexandra.

The lights remained on until the 8 a.m. renovation break, and everything was
business as usual.

“It seems all right,” jockey Larry Sterling Jr. said. “They may have to tweak
a few things, and the shadow from the rail could be a problem.”

Jockey Jamie Theriot, who also worked some horses under the lights,
concurred.

“It was good. They may have to make a couple of adjustments like maybe a
different angle in spots,” Theriot said. “But the good thing is the majority of
the riders here have ridden under the lights, so it is not new to them.”

Kentucky Derby (G1) winner MINE THAT BIRD (Birdstone) was snoozing in his
stall when the lights came on, unaffected by the illuminated barn area. At 7
a.m., he went to the track with regular morning partner Charlie Figueroa aboard
and jogged once around the wrong way.

“He’s doing great; I like what I see,” trainer Chip Woolley said. “He’ll
continue to jog a day and walk a day until we begin to let him ‘lope’ on
Monday.”

Woolley got to the track at 5:30 on Monday, a little earlier than usual, to
check out the lights. Mine That Bird never has raced under the lights and
Woolley said he called Mountaineer Casino Racetrack to be sure the August 1 West
Virginia Derby (G2) would be run during the day.

“I have had limited experience running horses at night, but if I had one
running, I’d like them to see the lights,” Woolley said. “I took a horse to
Remington Park one time for trials and he never had seen lights. When he went to
the gate, he was just looking up and when they sprang the latch he was not
ready. The whole way down the lane he had his head up and never straightened it
out to look ahead.”

A panoramic view of the illuminated track (Reed Palmer Photography/Churchill Downs) Churchill Downs is set to conduct the first of its “Downs After Dark” night racings sessions — the first racing under the lights in the 135-year history of the track — on Friday. Other night race programs are scheduled for June 26 and July 2. Post time for each of those racing programs is set for 6 p.m. The morning’s training activity under the temporary lights supplied by Iowa-based Musco Lighting received a strong “thumbs up” from Churchill Downs’ Vice President of Operations David Sweazy. “We’re very pleased with the bleed over of lights on the racetrack and into the stands, the backside, the gaps and the infield. All early indications are positive. We’ve received feedback from horsemen and they’re pleased,” Sweazy said. “Late in the morning we had an issue with one of the trucks in the infield and a generator blew. That’s why we test these things and have plenty of backups.

“(Musco Lighting) will do some tinkering of the lights on a couple of the
turns where there were a few shadows. They’ll do that tonight (between 9-11
p.m.) and we’ll test them again tomorrow (during training between 4-8 a.m.) and
be ready for Friday night.” 

John Veitch, chief state steward for the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission,
also liked what he saw.

“From a safety standpoint, Churchill Downs has done a magnificent job in
arranging and preparing the lighting,” Veitch said. “From the standpoint of the
commission, our duty is basically safety. It appears to be well organized, well
coordinated certainly meets all of our high standards.”

Tickets and reservations for dining and “Date Night” entertainment and dining
packages for Friday’s “Downs After Dark” racing are available by calling (502)
636-4400. That includes a specially priced pass for all three nights of racing
for $15. Friday’s admission will be $10 and admission is $6 on June 26 and July
2, so the three-night pass offers savings of $7 on admission to all three night
racing sessions.