By Derek Simon - @email
March 19, 2010 2:00am PT
Following the most anticipated weekend in horseracing since the 2009 Breeders’ Cup, two things are abundantly clear: Zenyatta is as spectacular as ever and Rachel Alexandra, the defending Horse of the Year, is not. The former, who made her 2010 debut in the Santa Margarita Handicap at Santa Anita Park on Saturday, looked like a Barry Sanders highlight reel as she wove through traffic in the stretch to win by 1 ¼ lengths while carrying top weight of 127 pounds. The latter, who also made her yearly bow on Saturday, was not quite so fortunate, as she came up on the short end of a stirring stretch duel with Zardana, a heretofore nondescript six-year-old mare, in the New Orleans Ladies Stakes at Fair Grounds.
