Alexandra the Great: The Story of the Record-Breaking Filly Who Ruled the Racetrack
To my husband Ben Williams who is the light of my life And to the late Jo Hooker whose bright smile and endless enthusiasm about Rachel Alexandra made this project even more fun She is deeply missed
1 A Nobody Lotta Kim sweated and paced restlessly in her dark stall on a late January night in 2006 Her hooves rustled the deep straw Her baby was coming whether she liked it or not At midnight Jim the night watchman at Heaven Trees Farm in Lexington Kentucky walked through the foaling barn checking on those expectant mares he couldn’t see from his office As he walked down the aisle the scent of sweet fresh hay with a musty undertone of manure filled the air When he got to Lotta Kim’s stall he saw her walking around and around and back and forth unable to settle She would give birth tonight Jim stayed with Lotta Kim watching as she tossed her black mane Her cinnamon-colored hide glistened 314
2 3 AlexANdrA the greAt 4 with sweat In the early ghostly hours before the dawn her water broke amniotic fluid gushing onto the dry clean straw Then Jim called Dede McGehee the owner of Heaven Trees Farm and a well-respected horse veteri narian Miss Dede Lotta Kim is in labor Jim told her If Dede had been home she would have headed to the barn Her pink confection of a house complete with turrets a room filled with a bountiful display of Kentucky Derby hats and a chicken coop miniature of her house that she called Palais de Poulets Poultry Dede McGehee’s all-pink home Deb Aronson
3 A Nobody 4 3 Palace was just a short walk to her foaling barn But Dede was on the road heading home but not close yet Lotta Kim was young and healthy and Dede did not expect any complications so she thanked Jim and told him If anything changes let me know Next Jim called Don Barcus the farm manager who joined him at the foaling barn to watch over Lotta Kim She was a maiden which meant this was her first foal The always high-strung mare was scared and tense she sweated and panted her eyes wide Normally first foals are on the small side but this one was large and space in the mare’s birth canal was tight Over and over Lotta Kim got up and paced and then lay down with a grunt in the pale-pink cinderblock stall in the dark quiet barn For several hours she labored painfully until finally with Don and Jim gently pulling on the foal’s forefeet the newborn slid onto the hay It was a girl This was just one foal of hundreds born that season in the Kentucky bluegrass the nerve center of Ameri can horse racing It would have been impossible at that moment to imagine that this little creature more leg and bone than muscle and heart would grow to become a racehorse for the ages breaking track records and introducing thousands of people to horse racing In a few short years little girls and their moms would fall in love with the filly faster than you can say girl power Jim and Don cleaned out the straw now wet and dirty and replaced it with dry bedding They medicated the
