Super' foal? Rachel Alexandra bred to Curlin

Jess Jackson has spent the last few years sparing no expense while scooping up some of racing's top prospects and turning them into superstars.
Now he's hoping to create one.


Jackson bred Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra to two-time Horse of the Year and stablemate Curlin on Monday, creating the potential for the "super horse" Jackson believes could help revitalize the industry.


The two horses met in a breeding shed at Lane's End Farm, near Versailles, Ky., on Monday. While the results won't be known for some time, Jackson has planned on getting two of racing's biggest names together since he purchased Rachel Alexandra days after her record-setting run in the 2009 Kentucky Oaks.
"We have been anticipating this introduction for some time now," Jackson said. "Imagine what possibilities those two super horses might produce."


Rachel Alexandra captured 2009 Horse of the Year honors in spectacular fashion, becoming the first filly in more than 80 years to beat the boys in the Preakness, then backing it up with wins in the Haskell and the Woodward. It was all part of an 8-0 campaign that ranks among the greatest ever.
She struggled regaining her form in 2010, winning just two of five races. Jackson retired her last September, saying it was time to "reward her with a less stressful life." By then she'd become a crossover star.


Off the track, Jackson used her success to help raise money for various charitable causes, including cancer research by auctioning off items related to Rachel.


There was little doubt her first chance at becoming a broodmare would be with Curlin. The 2007 and 2008 Horse of the Year, a Preakness winner in his own right, stands for $40,000 at Lane's End following a brilliant career in which he set a North American record by winning more than $10.5 million in purses.
He was retired at the end of the 2008 season following a fourth-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Classic, the only time he finished out of the money.


Stonestreet Stables co-owner Barbara Banke called it a "privilege" to bring two of racing's greats together.


"Rachel Alexandra and Curlin are true champions," she said. "Both horses embody that intangible equine ideal that separate mere horse from legend. Both Jess and I are so pleased that these powerful bloodlines will pass to future generations."

Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press

Anyone know how these "superhorses" have done historically?

pics , lol jk jk

Jake T. said:

Anyone know how these "superhorses" have done historically?

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some have been a Bust, but I would say over 60% on the good side.

Betallsports said:

some have been a Bust, but I would say over 60% on the good side.

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more like 1 in 8 something special.

Can't wait to see this foal....

trytrytry said:

more like 1 in 8 something special.

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Talking about Two World Champs breeding

hope it works!!

Let’s marry Rachel Alexandra off — or at least ponder a conjugal visit with Curlin as Jess Jackson, who owns both of them, has promised to arrange.

The filly Rachel Alexandra is being saved to race for a day other than Saturday, the day of the 141st running of the Belmont Stakes. She has six straight victories, including a memorable win over the boys in the Preakness Stakes.

Curlin, her eventual suitor, was a two-time horse of the year who won 11 of his 16 starts and more than $10.5 million in purses to become the richest racehorse in North America. He earned his reputation as an Iron Horse for never missing a race or a workout and retiring in perfect health.

Rachel Alexandra has demonstrated many of the same traits, and perhaps that is why Jackson did not wish to tax her constitution or risk diminishing her value by taking, and maybe failing, the Test of the Champion.

Jackson has an old school appreciation for an often-eccentric sport. He also possesses a nightclub promoter’s showmanship and a captain of industry’s confidence that makes you want to believe him when he says he wants to build a better racehorse.

Speed, strength and durability are a key to what Jackson calls his New Horse concept. On a blackboard it would read like this: Rachel Alexandra + Curlin = Super Horses & $$$.

Think about it a little longer, however, and it sounds a lot like the age-old adage “Breed the best to the best and hope for the best.”

Some science is involved in the breeding business. Listen to pedigree specialists and they can numb minds with talk of inbreeding, or five crosses and the Rasmussen factor.

Don’t ask.

But mostly art, or at least gut instinct, drives which mare gets a brief encounter with which stallion.

“It’s a blend of both,” said Headley Bell, managing partner of Mill Ridge Farm, who put together the sires and dams that begat the Kentucky Derby champions Barbaro (2006) and Street Sense (2007).

“We all have theories,” Bell said. “You’re just trying to position yourself to get lucky. If it was easy, someone wealthy would have conquered it long ago.”

Unfortunately in the horse breeding business, history rarely repeats itself.

Take Nicanor, the son of Dynaformer and the mare La Ville Rouge, and a full brother to Barbaro. The 3-year-old Nicanor had lost his first three races and his loyal legions worried that horse racing’s most famous sibling might be a bust.

Nicanor did find the winner’s circle in a maiden special-weight race on May 13, when he tried the turf for the first time. He ran away from a field of other winless horses by 15 ¼ lengths. He may prove capable of capturing major races, but the odds are long.

Case Clay, president of Three Chimneys Farm, said a sunny-side-up view is a necessity for horse breeders. His farm stands the productive sire Dynaformer and has great hopes for last year’s Derby and Preakness champion, Big Brown.

“We’re all optimists or we wouldn’t be able to handle it,” he said.

Like many in the breeding business, Clay believes the female family is the side that passes on class and speed over generations.

He pointed to the Phipps family mare Personal Ensign, who retired an undefeated champion in 13 starts after defeating the Kentucky Derby winner Winning Colors by a nose in the 1988 Breeders’ Cup Distaff. She is the mother to multiple Grade I winners, including My Flag, the 1995 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies champion.

My Flag, in turn, is the dam of Storm Flag Flying, who won the 2002 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. Winning Colors, on the other hand, was like a majority of champion mares, unable to reproduce a racehorse as accomplished as herself.

“It is so rare to have a champion on the racetrack like Personal Ensign become a dam to champions,” Clay said. “That’s what everyone is looking for.”

Whether Rachel Alexandra can pass her talent through generations, or if Curlin is the right match for her, remains to be seen.

But Eddie Rosen, a bloodstock consultant, is hopeful on both counts. He said Jackson and his people did their homework before buying Rachel Alexandra.

“This isn’t just some guy who bought two horses and decided to breed them together because they both win a lot,” said Rosen, who helped pick out the successful racehorses and sires More Than Ready and Tale of the Cat. “It appears more planned out than that.”

Rachel Alexandra’s sire, Medaglia d’Oro, a multiple Grade I winner, retired with career earnings in excess of $5.7 million. Her mother, Lotta Kim, is a daughter of Roar, a multiple stakes winner.

Rosen, too, believes the female side of the pedigree has the biggest impact on making a better racehorse. He likes what he sees in Rachel Alexandra’s, especially her seventh dam, Ellen’s Best, the mother of Hail to All, who in 1965 won the Belmont Stakes and the Travers, known as the Midsummer Derby.

“Curlin works with Rachel Alexandra genetically,” Rosen said. “What I see on her side is generation after generation of good horses, blue collar ones that won stakes races in Maryland. None of them are of Rachel’s caliber.”

Rosen then paused.

“To get one of her, everything has to go right,” he said. “Really, she is a gift from God.”

Maybe that is a thought for the blackboard

Take it from someone who has raised, bred and raced greyhounds for many years........ there are no sure things ! I almost always bred my greyhounds to All American greyhounds and I had mixed results. I did breed one bitch to
Rocket Charge who was one of the top studs if not the top stud in the country and fared very well. I got Macho Mutt who won 118 races and ranked in the top 10 most winning greyhounds in the history of greyhounds. Several of his littermates could fly also including Ima Ace who was the grade A win champion at Multnomah Kennel club in Portland. However I bred lots of dogs to legendary greyhounds who never even made the track... Go figure. In this case I think the foal will have a great chance but time will tell. It wouldn't surprise me either way. Interesting anyway !

kermit16 said:

Take it from someone who has raised, bred and raced greyhounds for many years........ there are no sure things ! I almost always bred my greyhounds to All American greyhounds and I had mixed results. I did breed one bitch to
Rocket Charge who was one of the top studs if not the top stud in the country and fared very well. I got Macho Mutt who won 118 races and ranked in the top 10 most winning greyhounds in the history of greyhounds. Several of his littermates could fly also including Ima Ace who was the grade A win champion at Multnomah Kennel club in Portland. However I bred lots of dogs to legendary greyhounds who never even made the track... Go figure. In this case I think the foal will have a great chance but time will tell. It wouldn't surprise me either way. Interesting anyway !

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nice read...thx

kermit16 said:

Take it from someone who has raised, bred and raced greyhounds for many years........ there are no sure things ! I almost always bred my greyhounds to All American greyhounds and I had mixed results. I did breed one bitch to
Rocket Charge who was one of the top studs if not the top stud in the country and fared very well. I got Macho Mutt who won 118 races and ranked in the top 10 most winning greyhounds in the history of greyhounds. Several of his littermates could fly also including Ima Ace who was the grade A win champion at Multnomah Kennel club in Portland. However I bred lots of dogs to legendary greyhounds who never even made the track... Go figure. In this case I think the foal will have a great chance but time will tell. It wouldn't surprise me either way. Interesting anyway !

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Agree, there are No sure things at all.

Owning , Training for over 25+ and only breeding a few Standardbreds
I've seen a lot of bad Yearlings come out, and people paying High 6 figures
Only to go bust.

thoroughbred breeding I think is more of a Science, IMHO

Take Control is a son of two Horses of the Year: A.P. Indy and Azeri..

OJS #32 buff said:

Take Control is a son of two Horses of the Year: A.P. Indy and Azeri..

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Any idea what that horse is up to? Broke the maiden at Santa Anita at the end of 2009 and hasn't raced since...

Jake T. said:

Any idea what that horse is up to? Broke the maiden at Santa Anita at the end of 2009 and hasn't raced since...

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in baffert barn. were pointing for Travers last year. Looking to bring him out this year after injury.