Alexandra the Great

After sketching the victory and career of 2008 Kentucky Oaks winner Proud Spell, the chapter turns to perhaps the greatest Kentucky Oaks winner of all time. This was Rachel Alexandra, whose twenty and one-quarter length tour de force in the Oaks got the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) off to a tremendous start in its first-ever coverage of the Oaks. After being sold and going through a trainer chance from Hal Wiggins to Steve Asmussen, the filly next defeated Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird in the Preakness Stakes. As the top older mare Zenyatta racked up wins in a brilliant 2009 campaign of her own, Rachel defeated Belmont Stakes winner Summer Bird in the Haskell Invitational Stakes and then became the first filly or mare to win the historic Woodward Stakes, defeating older males. Zenyatta fired back, becoming the first female to win the Breeders' Cup Classic, but Rachel Alexandra won out in the voting for Horse of the Year and became the first Kentucky Oaks winner to earn racing's highest honor.