Star filly Rachel Alexandra romps in Mother Goose Stakes in first start since Preakness win

Rachel Alexandra romps to victory in Mother Goose

NEW YORK — Rachel Alexandra may need to run against the boys just to find some competition.

The Preakness winner romped to a 19¼-length victory in the $300,000 Mother Goose on Saturday, splitting Malibu Prayer and Flashing on the far turn at Belmont Park and pulling away down the long front stretch to win in a stakes-record 1:46.33.

The superstar filly, who was back on the track for the first time since knocking off the boys at Pimlico, won her seventh straight race dating to last year.

“She’s not normal,” jockey Calvin Borel said.

Rachel Alexandra, who became the first filly to win the Preakness since 1924, went off as the overwhelming 1-9 favorite in a field of 3-year-old fillies reduced to three by two late scratches. She paid $2.10 in the race over 1 1-8 miles, with no place or show wagering due to the short field.

Malibu Prayer finished second and Flashing was third.

“I felt she could win by 10 lengths,” co-owner Jess Jackson said. “She’s something special, one for the ages. I just hope we have more horses to fill the fields and make it more exciting.”

The race was made easier when Florida Oaks winner Don’t Forget Gil was scratched Saturday morning because of a temperature, and Hopeful Image was held out because she has not fully recovered from a case of colic suffered earlier this week.

“We did everything we could to keep her in the race,” said trainer Gerald Procino, who co-owns Hopeful Image. “She’ll be fine, but the veterinarian advised that we scratch.”

Rachel Alexandra looked calm and regal as she strutted through paddock before the race, and Borel gave her two pats on the neck before she headed for the track.

She broke cleanly from the third post and remained about four lengths off the pace along the backstretch at Big Sandy, where she had never before run. The deep surface didn’t appear to affect Rachel Alexandra as she stormed between her two challengers and into the lead.

Borel never seemed to urge her after that, settling back and hanging on as one of the most dominant fillies to come along in years proved her brilliance once more.

“You don’t know where the bottom is yet. He didn’t ask her to run,” Jackson said. “He was just sitting there. I’m amazed at her beauty combined with her speed.”

A larger-than-usual crowd turned out to see Rachel Alexandra, even with the Yankees and Mets playing their Subway Series a few miles away at Citi Field. The filly was given a big ovation by 13,352 fans basking in one of the first sunny afternoons in New York this month.

Pink bracelets with the filly’s name were given away to the first 10,000 through the turnstiles in support of Jackson’s decision to donate a percentage of Rachel Alexandra’s future earnings to the Susan G. Komen breast cancer foundation.

Women were also admitted free on a day that belonged to horse racing’s current glamor girl.

“I was very relaxed where she was, just that beautiful stride. She looked great,” said trainer Steve Asmussen, who has had the filly in his stable the past two races. “She deserves all the attention and affection.”

Jackson hasn’t said where he’ll run Rachel Alexandra next, but it appears she came out of the race fit. He’s mentioned as candidates the Delaware Handicap on July 19, the Haskell Invitational on Aug. 2 and the Travers on Aug. 29 — all races against the boys.

She also could run against fillies again in the Coaching Club American Oaks on July 25 at Belmont.

Regardless of where she runs, fans are already clamoring for a matchup against champion mare Zenyatta, the best in the West who claimed her 11th straight victory just minutes after the Mother Goose in the $300,00 Vanity Handicap at Hollywood Park.

Jackson has said Rachel Alexandra won’t run in the Breeders’ Cup on Santa Anita’s synthetic track this fall, and Zenyatta has campaigned almost exclusively over those surfaces in California.

“That’d be delightful, the two best fillies in a decade or so,” Jackson said, “but I’d like it to be a full field so they really have a challenge.”