Rapid Redux made history by winning 22 consecutive races in a little over two years – more than Citation, Cigar or Zenyatta. Amanda Duckworth caught up with this everyday equine celebrity at the Old Friends equine retirement home
Down the path that leads to the back portion of Old Friends Equine in Georgetown, Kentucky, there is a paddock featuring two horses whose stories are as different as their looks.
Amazombie, a bay with a small star, won close to $2 million in a career that was highlighted by his victory in the 2011 Breeders’ Cup Sprint. The reason he is at Old Friends is fairly obvious.
Then there is Rapid Redux, a chestnut with a distinctive blaze and questionable front legs who never won a stakes race. What he did do, however, is capture the hearts of the American racing public when he started reeling off victory after victory at the lower levels.
By the time he retired, the gelding had written himself into the US record books for the most consecutive wins by a Thoroughbred – 22. More than Citation or Cigar (who both got to 16) or Peppers Pride or Zenyatta (who both got to 19).
For as different as their racing careers were, Rapid Redux and Amazombie both ended up retiring to Old Friends and have been paddock buddies for some time now.
“Rapid Redux is really cool, but ‘Zombie’ is in charge,” said Michael Blowen, the founder of Old Friends. “He doesn’t beat up on Amazombie anymore. They have kind of made peace. They have an understanding that Amazombie is the boss.”
Although the two geldings competed at very different levels, they both received an Eclipse Award the same year. While Amazombie was being celebrated as the country’s champion sprinter of 2011, the connections of Rapid Redux received the Special Eclipse Award after their gelding tied the great Citation with 19 wins in a single season.
An unlikely hero
Back in 2008, Rapid Redux was actually the first starter for his Dubai World Cup/Breeders’ Cup Classic-winning sire Pleasantly Perfect, and he did finish third in the Tyro Stakes at Monmouth Park in his third start.
However, Rapid Redux mostly plied his trade in starter allowance contests for horses who had raced at or below the $5,000 claiming level. He was claimed for $6,250 in 2010 by owner Robert Cole Jr., and he was trained by David Wells. They would remain his connections for the rest of his career.
“It’s really important for horses like him to have a place to go when they are done racing,” said Blowen. “My roots are the claimers. My roots are the drinking, gambling, and hard-knocking racehorses. I used to hotwalk at Suffolk Downs.
“That’s where I learned everything and really fell in love with the animals. I realized that they just enriched my life to a point that I couldn’t believe it. I can’t believe what my life would like without those horses.”
It comes as little surprise, then, that Rapid Redux caught Blowen’s attention. From December 2010 until he retired, the gelding was unbeatable. Although it seemed unlikely that Rapid Redux would become one of the most popular horses in America, that’s exactly what happened when he just kept winning.
Rapid Redux made his final start in January 2012, which he won by three-quarters of a length at Laurel Park. He ended up bowing out at 22 consecutive victories, and he arrived at Old Friends that May.
“I admit I chased Rapid Redux,” said Blowen. “After he won 17, I called his connections. After 18, I called and asked if it was time yet. I called again after 19, 20. Finally some time after 22, David calls me. He told me that he thought it was time, that he didn’t think he could race again. It took me 20 minutes to get packed. I was on the road within half an hour. I got there, we got him in the trailer, and off we went.”
During a career that spanned 42 races, Rapid Redux never competed in graded stakes company, and he stopped attempting even minor stakes after his fifth start. However, everyone loves a winner, and at his level, he was the best.
Mr. Popularity
In addition to the Special Eclipse Award, in 2011 Rapid Redux also won the Vox Populi Award, which recognizes the horse whose popularity and racing excellence best resounded with the American public and gained recognition for Thoroughbred racing.
The other finalists he beat out? Goldikova, Havre De Grace, and Uncle Mo. The Vox Populi was established in 2010 by the late Penny Chenery, and its inaugural winner was Zenyatta.
“The goal of Thoroughbred horse racing is to win races,” said Chenery at the time. “In each race, no matter what amount of money the winner receives, what the distance of the race or the surface it is run on, one horse wins. And that's what we are all trying to do with our stable - win races so that feed bills can be paid and the costs of keeping the endeavor afloat can continue.
"Thousands of races are staged in America every year for every level of competition and thousands of horses win them, but rarely the same horse," she continued. "So, for one horse to beat his field 19 times in one year is flat out phenomenal. For that we honor Rapid Redux.”
The Vox Populi honor roll has many notable and beloved names on it, but only one failed to win a stakes race. That does, however, give Rapid Redux a mark of distinction at Old Friends.
“He’s our only Vox Populi winner,” said Blowen. “We get people that still ask for him. He was wildly popular when he retired here. I bet he made more money from the ‘owner’ certificates for $100 bucks a piece that we do than he made on the racetrack.”
Stories fade
Time marches on though, and while Amazombie and Rapid Redux used to be in a paddock that was front and center and regularly visited by tours, they have been moved farther back on the farm now, as newer horses arrive who fans want to meet.
“It’s like journalism – stories fade,” said Blowen. “The story of Rapid Redux has kind of faded from memory. A lot of people don’t remember him now. The people who do remember him really remember him though, so he still gets visitors.
“I always tell people when I am doing my Founder’s Tour, ‘You have to promise me you are going to give me an honest reaction. How many people have come here to see me?’
No one has ever raised their hand. Not one person. Ever. Thousands of people, and no one has.
“Everyone is here for the horses. I tell people if there is a horse you really want to see and they aren’t on the regular tour, when it is over, we will go on the golf cart and go see them.”
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