It has been a great racing year in South Africa with Pocket Power winning a historic 3rd Queens Plate and J&B Met as well as Big City Life doing the Derby and July double. I have however decided to do a rundown of the year that was the American racing season.

The American racing season starts in full swing during March of each year. The very first big meet of the year is the Kentucky Derby Festival held at the legendary Churchill Downs Race course. This year the two day meeting started on the 1st of May 2009 with the running of the Kentucky Oaks. It was a small field that went to post for this 1800m event with one of the years best performances to follow. The track was sloppy but that did not bother Rachel Alexandra from destroying her rivals by 20 1/4 lengths. Such was the ease of her victory that some pundits were saying she should have taken her place against the boys a day later in the Kentucky Derby proper. Her turn would come later in the season.

This year's Kentucky Derby was marred by a few late withdrawals that had left the event without some of its hype. There was a horse from California called "The Pamplemousse" who had won the Sham Stakes at Santa Anita early in March that was visually one of the most impressive horses I have seen in a long while. I earmarked him as my Derby horse after I saw him win his second lifetime start. He is a relentless galloper. He leads on the speed and then just finds another gear at the top of the stretch to romp away from his field. It was with great sadness that I learned he had sustained an injury and would not run in the Derby. The second late scratch from the race happened on the morning of the Kentucky Derby. The morning line favorite, I Want Revenge from the Jeff Mullins barn had injured his near fore knee and was withdrawn. He was carded to be ridden by a young and very promising Californian Jockey called Joe Talamo. I felt almost as bad for the jock as I did for the horse. Add into all of this the fact that the rain had come down heavily over Churchill Downs the Friday evening and you were always going to have a funny race meet. As is now history almost everybody in America (and probably a good deal of the racing world) gasped for air as jockey Calvin Borel cut through the field on Mine That Bird and romped away to win the race by 6 ¾ lengths. He paid a whopping $103.20 for a win.

With the Kentucky Derby a distant memory the 3 year olds headed for Baltimore, Maryland and the Preakness Stakes to be run at Pimlico Racecourse. This time the wonder filly Rachel Alexandra was going to take on the boys. This race makes up the middle leg of the mystical Triple Crown and if Mine that Bird could win here then he would be in line to become the first triple crown winner since Affirmed in 1978. It was not meant to be as Rachel Alexandra showed the boys a clean pair of heels to win by a length with Mine That Bird in second. Another interesting fact is that Calvin Borel, the jockey who rode Mine that Bird to victory in the Derby was onboard Rachel Alexandra for the Preakness. If Calvin managed to find the correct mount for the final leg of the Triple Crown he could well do something that had never been done before in recorded history. He would be the first jock ever to win all three legs of the Crown on three different horses!

The Belmont Stakes came around on the 6th June 2009 at Belmont Park in New York. This race constitutes the third leg of the Triple Crown and by all accounts is the hardest to win. It comes off the back of two grueling feature races in the Derby and the Preakness. This race is more often than not won by a horse that was prepared specifically with this race in mind. This year was no different as 12/1 upset Summer Bird won the race followed home by Dunkirk (an imposing grey from the Ballydoyle folks) and Mine that Bird back in third. At face value the result seemed quite a shock but Summer Bird would continue to dominate races for the rest of the season. He won the Travers Stakes over Hold Me Back and then followed that up with a win in the Jockeys Gold Cup on the 3rd October. He has established himself as one of the favorites for the Breeders Cup Classic to be run on the 7th November 2009 at Santa Anita Race Track.

On the other side of the country an even more interesting story was developing. The winner of the Breeders Cup Ladies Classic of 2008 was an imposing dark bay mare called Zenyatta. She is as quirky as she is brilliant. Her racing career has spanned 3 years with 13 wins from 13 career outings. She likes to prance and dance under regular jockey Mike Smith before a race but when she is in the race she knows what to do with that huge, elastic stride of hers. She stalks her fields in last place for most of the journey but when her rider gives her the go ahead she inhales her fields and gets her head in front where it matters most. It has now become a regular point of discussion for race horse fans here in the US as to who is the best race horse in America. Is it Rachel Alexandra or is it Zenyatta. Rachel has done something that Zenyatta has failed to do so far in her career. She has managed to beat colts (and older male horses at that) in the Woodward Stakes of this year. This was the very first time that a filly had managed to beat the older horses in this race! That is no mean feat if the race course babble is anything to go by. Zenyatta has never raced against males but the general feeling is that she would be up to the task. So who is better? Can you say "Match Race?"

Unfortunately we will not find out this year who the queen of the US turf is as Rachel has wrapped up for the season and she will not race at the Breeders Cup meeting. Zenyatta however may still take her place at the meeting but in which race we still don't know. She may go for a repeat of her 2008 win in the Ladies Classic or she may be thrown in the deep end against the fellas in the Breeders Cup Classic. Whatever happens, it is going to be a cracking race meeting with some great European horses making the journey to California.

There were many other highlights throughout the year way too many to mention here but in the Breeders Cup we certainly have one of the biggest two days in our sport to look forward to.

I'm going to give you a tip for the Breeders Cup Juvenile race for colts to be run on the turf. If this horse gets a run he will be VERY hard to beat. Empty out on this one as he is super impressive. His name is "Interactif". - Chris Van Buuren

A horse is the projection of peoples' dreams about themselves - strong, powerful and beautiful - and it has the capability of giving us escape from our mundane existence. - Pam Brown