Filly has date with history

Rachel Alexandra will face seven older males and the long history of Saratoga Race Course as the "Graveyard of Champions" when the 3-year-old filly tries to become the first female to win the $750,000 Woodward Stakes on Saturday.

Rachel was made the 1-2 favorite and will launch her attempt to make history and win her ninth consecutive race from the No. 3 starting gate.

Her opposition in the 1e-mile Woodward includes Bullsbay , 5-year-old winner of the Whitney Handicap on Aug. 8; 4-year-old Da'Tara , winner of the 2008 Belmont Stakes; 4-year-old Macho Again and 6-year-old Asiatic Boy , the winner and runner-up in the Stephen Foster Handicap in June at Churchill Downs; and 5-year-old Past the Point , runner-up to eventual Horse of the Year Curlin in last year's Woodward.

"It's going to be tough," said jockey Calvin Borel , who has ridden Rachel Alexandra in each of her eight consecutive victories including two, the Preakness and Haskell Invitational, over males her own age.

BACK HOME: Mine That Bird has returned to New Mexico, arriving Wednesday at Ruidoso Downs ahead of next week's $2 million All American Futurity.

The Kentucky Derby-winning gelding is a thoroughbred and won't be running in the signature event of quarterhorse racing.

Instead, he will lead the post parade before Monday's race.

The decision to return Mine That Bird to New Mexico was co-owner Mark Allen 's way to thank the state's racing community for support. The horse was stabled at Sunland Park after Allen purchased the Canadian 2-year-old champion.

Mine That Bird was flown to El Paso, Texas, on Tuesday, then trainer Chip Woolley took him by trailer to Ruidoso Downs on Wednesday.

JOCKEY DIES: Hall of Fame jockey Ismael "Milo" Valenzuela , who twice won the Kentucky Derby and rode five-time Horse of the Year Kelso in the 1960s, died Wednesday near Arcadia, Calif., after a long illness. He was 74.