By Mary
Rampellini
GRAND
PRAIRIE, Texas - Rachel Alexandra stood out
from the moment she arrived at Diamond D
Ranch in Lone Oak, Texas, to be begin her
initial training stages in August 2007. And
it wasn't just because of the yearling
filly's strapping size, her big stride, or
the unique blaze that runs down her face.
"Her mother
was tough to break, and when Rachel showed
up she had that shark eye, that big white
eye on her, and I said, 'Oh my goodness,
this is going to be fun,' " said Jimmy
Dodwell, who manages Diamond D for his
semi-retired father, Ed Dodwell.
A white eye
is often associated with meanness, but Jimmy
Dodwell said Rachel Alexandra proved to be
nothing of the sort. Instead, she was a
model student, and if she wins the Kentucky
Oaks on Friday, she would be the first Grade
1 winner to come out of one of the
Southwest's most noted training centers,
located about an hour and half from Lone
Star Park.
Ed Dodwell,
his wife, Caroline, and Jimmy break about
100 yearlings each season at Diamond D, with
their operation opening its doors in 1981.
They have given early training to 124 stakes
winners, some of the most notable being
Kentucky Derby starter Jim's Orbit, Morris
Code, Baghdaria, Darby's Daughter, Showtime
Deb, Rapid Proof, and Yes I'm Blue. Also on
the farm was the promising Unbridled
Express.
But the best
horse to come through Diamond D in close to
30 years of operation might prove to be
Rachel Alexandra, who races for longtime
Dodwell client Dolph Morrison and Mike
Lauffer. She was part of a 2007 crop at the
farm that included Silver City, Indygo
Mountain, and Abbott Hall, and she was into
being a racehorse from the start, Jimmy
Dodwell said.
"Rachel was
always good, she did everything perfect," he
said. "She took to it like a fish to water.
"We broke her
in the fall and turned her out 60 days in
the pasture. The pasture was close to the
track, and while the other horses would be
grazing, a lot of times I would see her up
at the fence, watching the horses up at the
track. She was different."
Dodwell said
that when Rachel Alexandra resumed training
and progressed to working, her talent became
evident.
"It was the
way she did it, it was effortless," he said.
"That's the way she is now."
Rachel
Alexandra finished her early training
sessions at Diamond D in May 2008 and was
shipped to trainer Hal Wiggins at Churchill
Downs. She heads into the Kentucky Oaks off
four dominant stakes wins: the Grade 2
Golden Rod at Churchill in November, the
$50,000 Martha Washington at Oaklawn in
February, the Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks in
March, and the Grade 2 Fantasy at Oaklawn in
April.
Ed Dodwell
said it was particularly special to have had
a horse like Rachel Alexandra go through the
program at Diamond D.
"It means
everything," said Dodwell, who had a heart
attack in September 2004 and has since had
seven neck operations that have left him
with partial paralysis on his left side.
"That's the one we've been sitting on the
front porch waiting on."
"She's one of
a kind, it looks like," Jimmy Dodwell said.