April 3 Is Not the Correct Day for Rachel-Zenyatta

Every now and then, something happens that makes me want to be happy.

Florida signs the top-ranked recruiting class, the Florida Marlins lock in Josh Johnson long enough for him to start the first game in the new Orange Bowl, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers miss the playoffs.

Yet, I’m not happy, because Tennessee still had a top-ten class, the Marlins still resigned Dan “StrUggla," and the New Orleans Saints made the Super Bowl.

But, none of those travesties match up to the pain I’m feeling now.

In case you missed it, buried on the sidebar at ESPN.com or completely ignored at CBSSports.com, Oaklawn Park president Charles Cella announced that the track will offer $5 million if both Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta were to start in the Apple Blossom on April 3.

Moreover, the race would change from the handicap format it has held since its inception in 1958 to an invitational with all fillies and mares carrying 123 pounds.

I want to be happy about the possibility of Rachel Alexandra, the reigning North American Horse of the Year, meeting Zenyatta, the reigning Breeders’ Cup Classic winner.

I want the Apple Blossom Invitational on April 3 to be my most anticipated sporting event of the year, but I know that even if the matchup does occur, it’s going to fall flat.

More specifically, the timing will fall flat.

For starters, neither horse will be at full strength by April 3.

In 2009, Zenyatta was lightly worked for much of the winter before finally showing up on race day in the second half of spring.

Zenyatta did not enter the entry box until Kentucky Oaks day at Churchill Downs, where John Shirreffs scratched her on race day morning after the track was listed as “muddy.”

When she finally started three weeks later in the Milady Handicap at Hollywood Park, Zenyatta rolled home to an easy 1 ¾-length victory over stablemate Life Is Sweet, despite carrying the high weight of 126 pounds.

No offense to the Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner, but Life Is Sweet is no Rachel Alexandra.

Zenyatta ,no doubt, hit her best stride in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, nearly six full months after her first race of the year.

On the other hand, Rachel Alexandra entered 2009 already near the top of her game, but not quite there.

The future champion had raced until just after Thanksgiving 2008 before making her three-year-old debut at Oaklawn Park in the middle of February. She rolled home in a listed stakes race to an eight-length victory.

Nonetheless, three months later, she was still well short of the peak form she would display over the summer, barely holding off Mine That Bird in the stretch drive of one of the weakest Preakness Stakes fields in recent memory.

While her dominant performance in the Kentucky Oaks will be remembered for decades, Rachel Alexandra did not peak until the middle of the summer.

She destroyed the field on a sloppy track in the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth, and then holding off a strong field of older males despite being forced to run suicidal fractions in the Woodward Handicap at Saratoga.

Those two races, in case you forgot, came almost six and seven months respectively after her seasonal debut at Oaklawn, as well as three and four months after Rachel Alexandra was transferred to Steve Asmussen’s barn.

Do you want me to believe this year, Shirreffs can get Zenyatta to peak form in less than two months and no more than one prep race? Do you want me to believe that this year, Asmussen can get Rachel Alexandra to peak form in the same amount of time?

While the race may be competitive, it would be wrong of us to rob these two majestic animals in their peak conditions. We must wait at least until July, if not longer, for their matchup to truly be a battle of champions.

But mid-July doesn’t work for Oaklawn, so I’ll propose another alternative.

If the race must go forward as Cella intends it to, it must also go forward on the calendar.

Putting the race on April 3 would be stupid, and I use stupid because the English language does not have any other word that describes what putting this race on April 3 would be. Not dumb, not inane, not counter-intuitive, but just good old-fashioned stupid.

As Ray Paulick of PaulickReport.com already discussed, April 3 is also the date for two major Kentucky Derby prep races scheduled to air on NBC from 4:30 PM to 5:30 PM eastern time.

At 6 PM, CBS begins its double-header coverage of the NCAA men’s basketball final four from Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

With the final four going on concurrently, almost all of the major mainstream personalities will be in Indianapolis regardless of how big the race.

And even if it gets slotted after the Wood Memorial from Aqueduct and either before or just after the Santa Anita Derby on NBC, it won’t even have the full attention of the horse racing world, which has already shrunk to near microscopic numbers.

I don’t blame Cella for trying to make this happen, but to make it happen on April 3 doesn’t do the race justice. Oaklawn obviously can’t wait until July, as Oaklawn’s meet ends on April 10, but it can at the very least work its schedule to give the race more attention than it will currently get.

First, Oaklawn could move the race to April 4, putting it in between the two days of the Final Four.

Hot Springs, Ark., is only about 500 miles from Indianapolis, making it conceivable that ESPN or another network may divert some of its staff for the day to cover the race in its own time slot. Still, that doesn’t feel right.

Second, Oaklawn could move the race to April 10, Arkansas Derby day.

The Apple Blossom would take double billing with the Derby and presumably be aired on NBC, as NBC will already be in Hot Springs for the Derby.

The only major drawback is much of the sports media will be focused on the Masters Tournament, as the golf tournament will be airing on CBS all weekend.

Moving the race to the day after the Arkansas Derby would also be adversely affected by the Masters Tournament, making such a solution unfavorable.

Finally, Oaklawn can apply to add a week to its meet and hold the Apple Blossom on April 17. This is by far the most logical idea.

Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra would likely want to have a prep race before racing each other, and the extra two weeks gives them more time to recuperate after such a race.

Fair Grounds created a stakes race to lure Rachel Alexandra for March 13, offering a $200,000 purse.

Shirreffs has also glanced at March 13 for a potential first race, looking to run Zenyatta in the Santa Margarita Handicap at Santa Anita.

Moving the date to April 17 provides a more comfortable five weeks instead of three between starts for both competitors.

Furthermore, April 17 is a much lighter day in the sports world. True, the Stanley Cup playoffs start on April 14 and the NBA playoffs get underway that day, but opening round matches in both leagues do not even approach the television ratings or national media presence that the Final Four and the Masters Tournament command.

April 17 also makes sense from a promotional standpoint The entire Arkansas Derby broadcast on April 10 will in essence be an hour-long promotion for the Apple Blossom, especially if NBC also carries the Apple Blossom.

But most importantly, it gives back to the horsemen.

Oaklawn already lost a weekend of racing due to severe rainstorms in January, and providing an extra four or five days in April will give the state’s horsemen the opportunity to earn wages they lost out on in January.

If Cella can come up with an additional $4.5 million to stage this race, I’m sure he can find an addition $800,000 somewhere to add an entire week of racing.

If Cella wants to make this race work for everyone, he needs to move the Apple Blossom back two weeks so that it becomes the marquee sporting event of the day. The first two Saturdays in April are already booked, and the first two Sundays just aren’t too appealing either.

Move the race to April 17 and at least you have some chance of success. Keep it on April 3 and watch it flop. Sure, April 17 is not as good as July 17, but it’s at least a step in the right direction.

I want to be excited for the Apple Blossom Invitational, I want to be happy for the race, but I can’t be.

At least not on April 3.