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This Saturday, in the 25 minutes it takes to put on two races from paddock to finish line, Charles Cella will get the answer he's been looking for. Make that less of an answer and more of a reassurance; a guarantee that, provided these races go off without a hitch, his carefully orchestrated plan to bring two champions together in the Apple Blossom Invitational could continue to develop. Maybe. Unless you've been out tramping the jungle or hiding under a rock somewhere, you're probably aware that Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta, arguably the best thoroughbreds of their time, might face off in an April 9 meeting at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark. You're probably also aware that track president Cella has boosted the 1 1/8-mile Apple Blossom's purse to $5 million should both appear. For months leading up to their March 13 prep races, there has been talk about how the meeting of these two horses would be good for racing. But then, talk is always about what would be good for racing, what racing really needs -- the latest and greatest "perfect scenario" that will bolster a flagging fan base, attract new revenue and restore the all-but-vanished prominence the game once enjoyed. These schemes generally involve a yearning for legends like Seabiscuit and Secretariat and the ridiculously reliable tendencies of the runners' human connections to botch things up. This in turn results in the realization that such legendary horses have pretty much ceased to exist because the sportsmen of yesterday are quickly becoming the opportunists of tomorrow. And the cycle continues. This season's good-for-racing plan involving 2009 Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra and champion older mare Zenyatta -- and their larger-than-life owners, Jess Jackson and Jerry Moss -- will take the next step toward actuality when the two start for the first time this year -- in two events in different parts of the country. You can consider these races -- the $200,000 New Orleans Ladies at 6:15 p.m. ET and the $250,000 Santa Margarita Handicap at 6:40 p.m. ET -- as individual trial runs gearing toward the meeting everyone hopes to see. In Louisiana, Rachel Alexandra must make her first start of the season and exit in safe and solid condition. In California, Zenyatta must do the same. Zenyatta's most recent accomplishment was becoming the first female runner to win the Breeders' Cup Classic on Nov. 7, while Rachel Alexandra's was her historic Woodward score over older males Sept. 5. Each buildup to their 2010 prep races has been characteristic of the runners' individual camps: Zenyatta's team, already pointing toward the Apple Blossom (which she won in 2008), has provided nothing but praise for their unbeaten runner, while Rachel's connections have approached with their signature caution. Jackson -- the California wine mogul who purchased Rachel Alexandra last year after she won the Kentucky Oaks by more than 20 lengths -- told The New York Times that his filly is at about "85 percent" of where she should be going into her season debut. Meanwhile, Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith, who rides Zenyatta for A&M Records icon Moss, said of his mount, "I know it sounds funny, but I really think she's getting better." Rachel's connections have every right to be concerned over the 4-year-old filly's level of fitness going into the 1 1/16-mile New Orleans Ladies. Throughout a training regimen hampered by foul weather in New Orleans, she has turned in seven breezes over little more than a one-month period (Jan 31-March 8). Six-year-old Zenyatta has breezed 10 times in four months (Dec. 7-March 5), but her return to the races could pose a problem of its own: As the 127-pound highweight in a field of seven other runners, she spots her competition 12-19 pounds in the 1 1/8-mile test with her 14-for-14 record on the line. "That's quite a bit of weight to start out the year," Smith said. "But fortunately for us, she's a big mare and she carries the weight very well. So hopefully it won't bother her too much." Running for second They'll be out to tackle the champions, but the trainers of runners who will take on the two great race mares would also be satisfied to wind up second in either of the races. In Santa Anita's Grade 1 event, eight other horses have been entered to take on Zenyatta. In Fair Grounds' inaugural running of the New Orleans Ladies, only four will face Rachel Alexandra. "We don't have any grand illusions that we have a much better horse or anything," said Dallas Stewart, who will send out the 6-year-old mare Unforgotten at Fair Grounds. Stewart's Macho Again nearly passed Rachel Alexandra last summer in the Woodward, getting beat by a nose while carrying 126 pounds to Rachel's 118. "If something happens where she doesn't run very well, then it's a wide-open race," he said. Stewart has watched the bay daughter of Medaglia d'Oro training at Fair Grounds, where she put in her final preparations for Saturday's race March 8. "She looks to be very fresh, and her last work was just beautiful," he remarked. "I'm sure they're thinking they've got a ways to go with her, conditioning-wise, but in the grand scheme of things this is probably a good place to bring her back. She looks very good to me, like she's ready to do some running. We're taking the chance that we're probably going to be fighting it off for second, so we'll just get in the gates with her and see how it goes." Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer has two -- Dance to My Tune and Pretty Katherine -- entered in the Santa Margarita. He'd be happy to add place or show to the résumé of either. "I don't think anybody's expecting to beat her," he said. "I guess that could happen, but what people are looking for in this race is the Grade 1 placing. Aside from Zenyatta, there are a lot of other horses in the race that are pretty much equal, and that's why we're all in there. Dance to My Tune has some speed, she might be the only speed in the race, and Pretty Katherine is a very well-bred filly. If she ever got a Grade 1 placing she'd become much more valuable, so that's why we're there." Hollendorfer trains at Santa Anita, while trainer John Shirreffs is based at Hollywood Park with Zenyatta. "I haven't seen her on the track, but I did hear Mike Smith say she had a sensational work the other day, and he usually doesn't say much," Hollendorfer said. "Everybody expects her to run like she always does, and that's the hope. No matter if you're training Zenyatta or Rachel Alexandra or not, you hope to have the Apple Blossom race come off because the fans want to see it and it'll provide a lot of interest for our business." That, of course, is the focus. Two champions. Two legends. Two sets of passionate fans. One race. "It's what makes us proud, when great horses go out and run against each other," Hollendorfer said. This Saturday could bring fans one step closer to seeing whether they actually will. WORKOUTS SINCE LAST RACE Claire Novak has melded her love for human-interest journalism and the
equine breed into a successful turf writing career. Winner of the 2008
Louisville Metro Journalism Award for Sports Writing, she maintains
connections with organizations such as The Associated Press, Blood-Horse
Publications and the NTRA. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter, @ClaireNovak.
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