Rapid Redux matches Zenyatta

And he's earned a special award for individual achievement from the Eclipse folks:-

www.upi.com/Sports_News/2012/01/04/Win-N...719216/?spt=hs&or=sn

LAUREL, Md., Jan. 4 (UPI) -- Rapid Redux earned both a special Eclipse Award and his 22nd straight win within a span of a few hours Wednesday.

Robert Cole claimed the son of Pleasantly Perfect for $6,250 on Oct. 13, 2010. Since then, the gelding has won 23 of 24 races with earnings of $266,074.

The ongoing victory skein includes 19 wins in calendar year 2011 and organizers of the sport's year-end awards announced early Wednesday that was good enough to earn Rapid Redux a special award for individual achievement.

"The achievements of Rapid Redux in 2011 were remarkable," said Alex Waldrop, president and chief executive officer of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association. "Winning 21 consecutive races, including 19 of them in a single year, at distances ranging from 5 furlongs to a mile and an eighth, is something we won't soon again see."

Only hours later, Rapid Redux, who officially turned 6 on Jan. 1, led from start to finish in a starter allowance race at Laurel Park, holding off Awesome Rhythm at the end by 3/4 of a length under some urging by jockey J.D. Acosta.

Illustrating the difficulty of getting a horse to the races 19 times in one year -- let alone winning 19 times -- the gelding had suffered a minor foot injury a few days earlier and Cole had been cautious about committing his star to Wednesday's race.

"It was 30 percent to run yesterday," trainer David Wells said. "We jogged him this morning for the vet and put the hoof testers on and he thought we were going to be OK."

"The math is unbelievable when you think about it," Cole added. "It is tough to win this many in a row. The durability is his greatest trait. He'll keep running as long as he's healthy."

Cole was raised in the area north of Washington, D.C.

"It's fun winning in front of the home crowd," he said. "A lot of my friends are here. I was a bettor for years before I was an owner. I know the people here and it is fun to win with my friends."

Rapid Redux could earn another honor Thursday. He is one of four candidates for the "Vox Populi Award," a "horse of the year" competition involving a fan vote started last year by Secretariat's owner, Penny Chenery. Rapid Redux is a finalist, along with Goldikova, Havre de Grace, and Uncle Mo.

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And those people who think excellence is judged by number of races won must think that he is a much better horse than Zenyatta, Cigar, Sea The Stars, Nijinsky, Frankel, Secretariat, you name it.

Uh-huh. Right.< A great achievement, make no mistake, but a champion he ain't.

magic the trainer must be a master at placing this horse .

Perhaps when he reaches the right mark he can take on the big guns . He may just be competitive ?

The trainer is a master, but I'd say the real big guns would blast this horse to pieces.

I'd be inclined to agree with Magic, but I love this horse and this story.

He may not be Zenyatta, Citation or Frankel, but 22 on the trot is a phenomenal achievement by any standards. These days a lot of horses won't make 22 starts in their entire careers, nevermind 22 wins.

Racing needs heroes (of all calibres). I think he's a heck of a special horse and deserves his time in the limelight.

I agree whole heartedly, zsuz. It's a great achievement by trainer and horse alike.

I was just making a tongue-in-cheek reference to the "a win is a win is a win" brigade, and we still have a lot of them. Even amongst people who should really know better.

Got this off South China Morning Post:

"The American racing industry will honour prolific winner Rapid Redux with a rare award even before he gets the chance to equal the all-time record in that country for consecutive wins.

"In Maryland this week, Rapid Redux overcame a pre-race foot injury to record his 22nd straight victory, just one off the 23 recorded by Leviathan over a period from 1797 to 1801, but the six-year-old performed his feats much quicker.

"Owner Robert Cole bought Rapid Redux out of a lowly US$6,250 claiming race in October 2010, when the gelding's record read a well-explored 18 starts for five wins.

"He has since won 23 of 24 starts at distances from 1,000m to 1,800m at seven different tracks, including the 19 from 19 during the calendar year of 2011 which has earned him a place at the glittering annual industry night, the Eclipse Awards.

"Rapid Redux will receive a special achievement award, a prestigious but infrequently presented honour that has previously gone to industry giants like Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum or to jockeys like Laffit Pincay and Russell Baze, who established all-time records for career wins.

"But Rapid Redux won't be seen in any major races and his latest win came in a modest event worth about HK$130,000.

"He has been placed really well," said trainer David Wells. "Condition books win races and that is what it is. He is not a stakes horse. He is not an allowance horse. People want us to try it but he is not that quality."

"Retirement for Rapid Redux had been considered by Wells and Cole recently, but quickly dismissed, and the trainer said he would look for another race in the coming weeks.

"The math is unbelievable when you think about it," said Cole. "It is tough to win this many in a row. The durability is his greatest trait. He'll keep running as long as he's healthy.

"He's a Maryland home-grown running in Maryland. We wanted him to stay close to home as he relates so well to the average fan. He's a blue-collar horse."

"The 22-race win streak is already the longest anywhere in North America since Camarero set a world record 56 successive wins in Puerto Rico from 1953 to 1955."

USA: The remarkable record-breaking gelding Rapid Redux will never get the chance to match the all-time US winning streak for consecutive victories after connections decided to retire him without another race.

The spit-and-sawdust superstar, whose winning streak of 22 represents a new mark for consecutive US victories since 1900, has been off the track for more than four months since his most recent victory at Laurel on January 4.

But instead of coming back in a bid to match Leviathan, who won 23 successive races between 1797 and 1801, Rapid Redux is to be retired next week to the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington.

"He's perfect right now and we want him to stay that way," said the six-year-old's owner Robert Cole, speaking to the Baltimore Sun. "Why risk having him get beat?"

Cole claimed front-running Rapid Redux, whose exploits earned a Special Eclipse Award for 2011, for just $6,250 at Penn National in October 2010.

Since that date he has won he has won 24 of his 25 races, scoring at seven different tracks at distances from 5f to 1m1f.

Trained by Penn National-based David Wells, Rapid Redux habitually competed in cheap, low-grade starter-allowance races on the low-tier mid-Atlantic circuit.

Kept to this milieu, he won all 19 of his starts last year to match the feat of the Triple Crown winner Citation in 1948. During that sequence, he also surpassed modern-day US record mark of 19 straight wins achieved by Zenyatta and Peppers Pride.

Rapid Redux's winning streak of 22 is the highest in North America since Camarero set his world record of 56 in Puerto Rico between 1953 and 1955.

Wells added: "I've been taking him out, hand walking him, to eat grass. He's fine, but he ran hard and he's not quite the same horse, to be honest. He gave us a really fun ride, and I'm glad he's healthy and we're letting him go out on top."

On the Farm ,by the looks of it he won`t go short of carrots (tu)