2009 USA Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra has been all but forgotten amid all the hoopla surrounding Zenyatta’s retirement and the speculation regarding the identity of her first mate.

Rachel Alexandra will be covered by Curlin next month and it will mark one of the rare occasions that a stallion and a mare that have both become USA Horse of the Year have been mated.  

There have been 16 foals produced by Horses of the Year.  Four of them became stakes winners headed by champion galloper Apalachee (Round Table – Moccasin).

Rachel Alexandra (Medaglia d’Oro) is the fifth three year-old filly to have been awarded Horse of the Year honours following Beldame (1904), Regret (1915), Twilight Tear (1944) and Busher (1945).

All five continued racing as four year-olds but none recaptured their earlier brilliance.  Only Regret won another championship, being acclaimed the best older female of 1917.

As broodmares, they had varied success.  Beldame is credited as being the source of the belief that hard-raced mares do not make good producers, for none of her eight foals proved capable of winning a stakes race.

Regret was categorized as a failure at stud.  From 11 foals, she produced a sole stakes winner Revenge (Chicle) but four of her daughters did became stakes producers.

Twilight Tear produced the high class stakes winners A Gleam (Blenheim) and Bardstown (Alibhai).

Busher produced only five foals and her best runner was the good handicapper Jet Action (Jet Pilot).  He kept Busher’s name alive in modern pedigrees by siring Fair Charmer, the second dam of Seattle Slew.

The odds are still long against Rachel Alexandra’s first foal living up to its pedigree.  Time will tell whether she will influence her breed or whether her only legacy will be the memory of her own brilliance.