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While I was gone, Championship Week came and almost went, the Cards closed out their 54 year tenure in  Freedom Hall with a rousing victory over the 'Cuse and business upheavals galore in worldwide soccer.  We'll get to some of these and more today and tomorrow but first to the turf and yesterday's 2010 debut of the best fillies of a generation, as they both ran warm-up races for their much anticipated meeting in the $5 million Apple Blossom at Oaklawn on April 9.  While Zenyatta took care of business, winning the Grade I $250,000 Santa Margarita  Handicap over the synthetic course she loves at Santa Anita, Rachel Alexandra faltered in the stretch and lost to Zenyatta's stablemate Zardana in the inaugural $250,000 New Orleans Ladies Stakes at the Fair Grounds.

Rachel's trainer Steve Asmussen blamed the loss on a lack of fitness, throwing in doubt the filly's participation in the Apple Blossom.  He refused to guarantee she would run, although I really doubt that owner Jess Jackson would pass on the opportunity to test her against Zenyatta on a surface that Rachel Alexandra likes.  In my mind, she will only skip the race if there is something wrong with her, which we should learn in the next couple of days.  If she just tired, Asmussen should be able to get her fit in time.

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