Contenders

     After becoming only the seventh jockey to win the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby on the same weekend, he said, if forced to make a decision, he would choose to ride the filly over his Derby winner, Mine That Bird.
     With longshots and with the closest thing to a sure-thing, the 42-year-old Cajun showed his capabilities at Churchill Downs the first and second of May, when his 20¾-length tally aboard the 3-10 Rachel Alexander in the Kentucky Oaks preceded his shocking 50-1 score aboard Mine That Bird in the Kentucky Derby. He has had some familiarity with notable longshots: He won the 1993 Arkansas Derby with Rockamundo at 108-1 and the 2006 Stephen Foster with Seek Gold at 92-1. He’s one of only five to win as many as 800 races at Churchill Downs, so the stars were certainly aligned for he and Mine That Bird.
     His riding career, like that of many of riders from Louisiana, began at 8, a time when most kids are learning to throw a baseball.
     He’s won more than 4,500 races in his career and is the seventh to

Jess Jackson won the 2007 Preakness with eventual two-time Horse of the Year Curlin. He purchased a majority interest in the colt from Midnight Cry Stable after he put in an enormously impressive debut at Gulfstream Park.
Rachel Alexandra’s purchase is reminiscent of that of Curlin, who narrowly missed winning a second classic when he was headed by a filly, Rags to Riches, in the Belmont Stakes. He previously had been beaten by the Calvin Borel-ridden Street Sense in the Kentucky Derby.
The N.Y. Times said the purchase price for Rachel Alexandra was between $3 and $4 million.
Jess Jackson, a former lawyer, is the founder of Kendall-Jackson wines. A native of Los Angeles who was raised in San Francisco, Jackson raced horses in partnership with his uncle in the ‘60s and came into the game in a big way after retirement at the turn of the century, highlighted by his purchase of 95 horses for $22 million at the Keeneland November breeding stock sale and the procurement of Kentucky and Florida

The son of two trainers, Keith and Marilyn Asmussen, Steve Asmussen is also the brother of one the great jockeys of the late 20th century, Cash, an Eclipse winner in the U.S. and a champion rider in Europe later in his career.
The 43-year-old South Dakota native benefited from a previous Jess Jackson transaction that led to eventual two-time Horse of the Year Curlin coming to under his care. With Curlin, Asmussen soared to the heights, beginning with his Preakness and Breeders’ Cup Classic victories in 2007 and his score in the 2008 Dubai World Cup. Other top horses include the fillies Lady Tak, winner of the Grade 1 Test, and Summerly, winner of the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks.
The winner of more than 4,000 races has about 200 horses in training, with divisions in New York, Chicago, Kentucky and Texas.
Previous trainer Hal Wiggins has trained horses for Dolphus Morrison since the mid ‘80s. Asmussen has had two other Preakness starters, finishing fifth with Easyfromthegitgo in 2002 and Snuck In in 2000.

Rachel Alexandra is named after her breeder’s eldest granddaughter. As president of a steel company, Morrison was in Texas inspecting a job where he watched his first race. It was for quarterhorses, but he transitioned to thoroughbreds soon after. He bought some horses and turned them over to Hal Wiggins, the beginning of a more-than 20-year association. Among his previous stakes winners are Lotta Rhythm, winner of the Pocahontas Stakes and third in the 2001 Golden Rod and Lotta Kim, 2003 Golden Rod runner-up. Rachel Alexandra avenged those defeats with last year’s tally.
The family is that of Belmont-Travers winner, and Preakness third, Hail to All.