'Rachel's Race Items Benefit Cancer Research

(Edited press release)

Michael O’Toole, of East Stroudsburg, Pa., submitted the winning bid for the three pairs of racing goggles worn by jockey Calvin Borel as he rode super filly Rachel Alexandra to victory in the Haskell Invitational Stakes (gr. I) at Monmouth Park--her second of three wins over the colts in her historic 2009 campaign.

The winning bid--$1,777--will be donated by the filly' owners, Jess Jackson and Barbara Banke, to The V Foundation for Cancer Research.

So far, the ongoing auction has raised over $11,000 for the charity. On Oct. 1, the fourth item in the five-item series will go up for bid at www.kj.com. The new item is the race crop used by Calvin Borel in Rachel Alexandra’s most-recent win against world-class colts in the Woodward Stakes (gr. I).

In June, Kendall-Jackson Winery announced the five-month-long charity auction featuring items, donated by winery owner and co-founder Jess Jackson, that are related to Rachel Alexandra’s Thoroughbred racing season. A new item and new auction will be introduced every month through November.

Each item will have a “blind reserve” bid amount--that amount is guaranteed by Jackson and Banke to be the minimum amount donated to the charity--even if bidding is below that amount and the item is not sold.

The cumulative total of all auction proceeds will be presented to the V Foundation after Rachel Alexandra’s last race of the season, or no later than Nov. 30.

As bids are taken and recorded, a real-time total will show where the price stands at any given moment. In addition, a cumulative total of money raised to date will be featured on the Kendall-Jackson Web site home page.

Every month, the winning bidders will be posted and announced to the press (unless they decline being identified). Though 100% of each auction purchase will go the V Foundation for Cancer Research, a non-profit organized under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, purchases of auction items are not tax-deductible.

The V Foundation for Cancer Research was founded by ESPN and Jim Valvano in 1993. Since that time, it has raised more than $80 million and has awarded cancer research grants in 38 states and the District of Columbia. Researchers have developed their laboratories and taken their science from the labs to the clinics with the help of funds raised by The V Foundation.