Alexandra the Great: The Story of the Record-Breaking Filly Who Ruled the Racetrack
6 3 AlexANdrA the greAt 4 Rachel Alexandra as a baby with her striking blaze Suzie Oldham
3 A Nobody 4 7 unfamiliar scent of the strange new filly Once she drank and then excreted the nurse mare’s milk the foal would begin to smell more familiar Dede hoped that the nurse mare who had no foal and the filly whose mother had rejected her would bond The mare walked into the stall and began to eat from a hay net The foal tottered over and began to nurse nuzzling the Appaloosa’s udder The little girl was hun gry So far so good but was the mare going to accept the filly Nurture her body and spirit It was anybody’s guess The nurse mare had chosen hay over the filly at first which was not a great sign After the nurse mare ate Dede hobbled her and sat with her and the filly in the stall The nurse mare did not like people and was very hard to catch once she was in the paddock She hated hav ing her face touched according to Dede which made it challenging to grab hold of her halter The mare quickly got a nickname that reflected her prickly nature Since the new filly’s mom was named Lotta Kim and Dede also had Lotta Kim’s half-sister Lotta Rhythm the nurse mare now an honorary member of the family became Lotta Bitch referred to hereafter as the more polite Lotta B Dede moved the filly and Lotta B into one of the stalls with a special viewing window and someone also stayed with the pair constantly The first day was critical
2 lotta b it was not Love at first sight Lotta B didn’t warm to her adopted foal immediately But gradually Lotta B took the filly into her care making sure she stayed by her side Don and Dede could tell because when they took the filly out of the stall Lotta B whinnied loudly and frantically as the filly moved out of sight After that the horses were inseparable When Lotta B grazed the filly grazed when Lotta B got it in her mind to run the filly ran with her Later with other foals Lotta Kim became a better mother than she was with her firstborn who was even tually named Rachel Alexandra after Dolph’s grand daughter Lotta Kim tolerated her next foal sired or fathered by Empire Maker and she bonded strongly 394
