The princess of racing is something special

If the unbeaten Zenyatta is the queen of thoroughbred racing, then Rachel Alexandra, 8 for 8 in 2009, is certainly its princess. She continues to conquer new hurdles, the most recent being Saturday's Woodward Stakes at Saratoga when she overcame seven older males while setting some very fast fractions to become the first female ever to win one of the most prestigious stakes races in America.

She'd already beaten the boys in the Preakness and the Haskell Invitational. She'd already routed other 3-year-old fillies in the Kentucky Oaks and Mother Goose. She'd won over fast tracks and sloppy ones. She'd won on the lead, or from just off the pace. She'd done everything asked of her, so why doubt for a second that she would do what she did Saturday in the Woodward?

She went 22.83, 46.41 and 1:10.54 and still had enough left to beat Macho Again, the winner of the Stephen Foster Handicap in June at Churchill Downs, by a head in a final clocking of 1:48.29 for the 1 1/8 miles.

Jockey Calvin Borel, who fits the filly like a glove, perhaps said it best after the race.

"She would never let (Macho Again) go by her," he said. "Every time he went up to her, she would dig in again. Even galloping out, I said to Robby (Albarado), 'You ain't going by us.' She is such a tremendous filly. He ran up to her three times and she kept giving me a little bit more."

Albarado knew he'd just been beaten by one of the all-time greatest fillies.

"She's a champion," he said. "Champions do that. Champions find ways to win. I never thought I had her. You never think you have champions. She's a great filly. The only thing I was hoping was that at some point she would tire or do something. She's great. What can I say? Nothing much I can say. She's great."

Said jockey Jeremy Rose, who finished third aboard Whitney Stakes winner Bullsbay: "My horse left everything on the track. He did everything he could to get by that (filly). She just isn't giving up. She's awesome; there's no two ways about it.

"The fractions were fast and I thought I was in a perfect spot to catch her. At the quarter pole, I split Edgar Prado (on Past the Point) and her and I got within a neck of her and she just rebroke. She's just too good of a horse."

Before Saturday, Twilight Tear was the last 3-year-old filly to beat older males in a major American stakes race, accomplishing the feat in the 1944 Pimlico Special.

Rachel Alexandra just keeps clearing these hurdles that co-owner Jess Jackson puts in front of her, and it's gotten to the point where she might now need a rest. She might have run her final race of 2009, and who could blame Jackson if that's the decision he makes? He wants to run her as a 4-year-old, and she's 11 of 14 now in her career.

Will she race again this year?

"I can't honestly say," Jackson said. "She's run more races than Zenyatta's run, and Zenyatta's 5 years old. You can't expect a young youngster -- she's only 3 -- running against older horses, you can't expect them to keep going all the time. You have to give them a break, and we'll talk that over very seriously."

And what about that showdown against Zenyatta, perhaps after the Breeders' Cup at a neutral site like the Fair Grounds?

"I can't predict," Jackson said. "It depends on both horses coming out and what both camps would be willing to do. I've indicated Rachel's had a full race year already. It might be that they get together, but I can't predict that. It takes two to (tango), but it better be a good venue or neither one will come."