Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin evaluated the field for the 56th running of the Woodward like this: there's Rachel, and then there's everybody else.
New York Racing Association oddsmaker Eric Donovan looks at it this way: you set the odds for Rachel, then you set the odds for the horse most likely to finish& second.
Jockey Jeremy Rose thinks the following: Rachel Alexandra is a monster.
And everyone else pretty much agrees.
While six horsemen will send seven older horses to chase the Steve Asmussen-trained super filly in Saturday's running of the Woodward, healthy respect for the runner who has dominated the 3-year-old scene is foremost on their lips.
"I'm feeling what I don't have the feeling of very often, that we're going into the race almost running for second," said McLaughlin, who will saddle 10-1 choice Asiatic Boy. "I always like to think that I have a chance to win any race, even if we're 30-1, but I feel like she's going to be very, very difficult to beat."
Asiatic Boy, a 6-year-old son of the Argentinean stallion Not For Sale, was runner-up in the Suburban and the Stephen Foster Handicap this year in his first two starts in the U.S. He missed the Aug. 8 Whitney after coming down with a temperature.
"We're up against it but we didn't want to go to California for the Pacific Classic; it's a long way to go to a surface we don't know he'd like," McLaughlin said. "The cons outweigh the pros in both cases but here the cons are her and that's about it. She's a great filly -- that word is thrown around too much -- but she's been super all year."
Standing in the Paddock after the post position draw on Wednesday, trainer H. Graham Motion evaluated the dubious honor of being made second choice behind Rachel Alexandra in the Woodward. He'll send out Whitney winner Bullsbay, 6-1 on the morning line.
"I have tremendous respect for Rachel Alexandra," he said. "But any time you send out a runner, you have to think of the way that you can win the race."
Brian Ainge, assistant trainer to Eoin Harty, has been watching Rachel all summer long. His team sends out Past the Point, the horse that ran second in last year's Woodward to Curlin.
"She's facing older horses for the first time and they're all facing her for the first time," he said. "It will be very exciting."
So that's the vibe here at Saratoga going into the final week of the season -- excitement created by Rachel Alexandra, a horse of a lifetime. In Charlie Hayward's office, brilliantly-colored posters are stacked on the desk, awaiting distribution. The commemorative buttons are on their way for the first 25,000 fans to arrive on Saturday. And the horsemen brave enough to face her are holding their breath -- as we all wait to see what will happen.
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