It's rare to feel as proud of a horse as I was of Rachel Alexandra in defeat in the Personal Ensign, Aug. 29 at Saratoga. After the filly won the Woodward, nearly a year to the day before, many nay-sayers noted that she was all out to hold off a closing rival at nine furlongs. They surmised that another furlong would be her outdoing. My belief all along was that perhaps she could, perhaps she couldn't - but she would give her all either way. After sizzling through early splits against the stellar Life At Ten in the Personal Ensign, Rachel Alexandra was already flagging on the turn for home as Persistently closed stoutly. A lesser horse might have folded and finished toward the rear of the pack. But Rachel found some untapped reserve of courage and dug in. She was finally caught in the shadow of the wire by Persistently - but the heart she showed in that longest quarter-mile of her life defines a Thoroughbred. As a nice aside, Persistently raced for the Phipps family and Shug McGaughey, who earlier in the year had lost the race's namesake.

Each day for the rest of 2010, Nicole Russo is counting down her top 10 most memorable races of 2010. What are yours? E-mail sports@saratogian.com or leave a comment below!