Sam Houston Race Park & Gallery Furniture Continue Efforts for 2010 Stakes Race Featuring Zenyatta & Rachel Alexandra

Sam Houston Race Park and Gallery Furniture continue to step up efforts to bring super star racers Zenyatta and the recently named Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra together in a high-dollar stakes race to take place at The Park as part of the MAXXAM Gold Cup Stakes event on Saturday, March 27, 2010. Both teams behind the top female racers have indicated that each horse would race in 2010, and this is an ideal time for offers to be considered for a historic race.

The proposed race is a $1.5 million stakes race with participants going 1 1/8 mile race on The Park’s dirt track. The first-class race will also feature a full field of elite Thoroughbreds from across the nation and around the world.

The event would mark the first time both top female racers Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra would face one another, creating one of the most anticipated racing events in horse racing history.

“This would be the greatest horse race of the 21st century and it would be a privilege for Gallery Furniture to promote this as taking place in Houston. You go girls!” stated Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale, Gallery Furniture.

“We are continuing to work on all fronts to get Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra, as well as other top horses from around the world, to come to Sam Houston Race Park and participate in what would be one the most exciting races in horse racing history,” said Andrea Young, President and Chief Operating Officer, Sam Houston Race Park. “Adding a race of this caliber to our MAXXAM Gold Cup event is a great way to showcase our nationally recognized racing surface, it’s a great time of year weather-wise, and we think it’s an ideal way to close out our Thoroughbred meet.”

Rachel Alexandra is a four-year-old filly owned by Jess Jackson and Harold McCormick and is trained by one of the top winning trainers in the nation, Steve Asmussen. She won all 8 of her starts in 2009, racing on the dirt surface and beating out some of the top male and female racers over the course of an impressive season. She took top honors in the Kentucky Oaks, the Preakness Stakes, Mother Goose and Haskell Invitational, and the Woodward Stakes to name a few of her prizes. She was named Horse of the Year at the Eclipse Awards which took place on January 18. Rachel Alexandra was guided to victory in 2009 by Calvin Borel.

Zenyatta is a six-year-old mare owned by Jerome and Anne Moss who has won 14 of her lifetime starts and remains undefeated on synthetic surfaces. She was a finalist for 2009 Horse of the Year and was named the 2009 Eclipse Award-winning champion older mare. She was working weekly at her Hollywood Park base since becoming the first female to win the Breeders' Cup Classic (Gr. I) in electrifying style November 7, 2009. She recently posted three half-mile workouts at Hollywood. In addition to making history in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, Zenyatta has highlighted her career with wins in the 2008 Apple Blossom Handicap, the Ladies’ Secret Handicap, the 2008 Breeders’ Cup Ladies Classic, the Clement L. Hirsch stakes and the $300,000 Lady’s Secret Stakes. Zenyatta is jockeyed by Hall of Fame rider Mike Smith and is trained by John A. Shirreffs.