We’re taking a break from hard news this week to focus on what’s just simply a good story—one that pairs well with one of the best-read New York Times articles of the week, about women bullying women in the workplace. Except this story has a better outcome.
When the gates burst open at the Preakness Stakes this Saturday in Baltimore, Maryland, one of the 13 horses—actually the one on the outside who drew the 13th spot from the rail, will look a lot like the rest of the horses: well trained, fast as lightning, a winning record under the saddle.
Except that she’s a girl.
Here comes Rachel Alexandra
If you haven’t yet heard the name Rachel Alexandra, a 3-year-old filly, you may not be able to forget it after Saturday’s 135th run of the Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the Triple Crown. This “super filly,” as some have called her, now is the favored horse in the race, with 8-5 odds. Owners of other horses that have run against her talk of “chasing” her down the track. She’s good.
She didn’t run in the Kentucky Derby a couple weeks ago but she did run the night before in the traditional girl’s race, the Kentucky Oaks. She tore up the field and won by more than 20 lengths. Watch the race here.
The drama
Since she won the Oaks, she’s been the center of a lot of drama. Her new owner within the last two weeks, Jess Jackson of Kendall-Jackson wines, decided he wanted to run her in the Preakness. Horses who are nominated before the Triple Crown challenge begins are given favored status as entrants, so Jackson paid a $100,000 supplement to have her entered.
But she still almost didn’t make it in the race. For one, the jockey who rode her to victory in the Oaks on May 1 then went on to win the Kentucky Derby the next day on Mine that Bird, a horse that went from last to first to win the race and has been the focus of much attention since his incredible win.
That jockey—Calvin Borel—decided if Rachel Alexandra ran the Preakness, he’d ride her. Of course Mine that Bird’s owners want Borel on their horse. So they nominated another horse to the lineup, and so did another owner, hoping to keep her out.
But then enter the two-legged lady. Horse ownerMarylou Whitney, along with her husband, said, “ladies first,” saying they would pull their horse Luv Guv if it meant Rachel Alexandra wouldn’t run. The other owners backed down, making room for the girl.
The big picture
The last time a girl ran the Preakness was 10 years ago, and she didn’t finish. Filly Rags to Riches won the Belmont, the last of the Triple Crown races, two years ago. But when it comes to the Triple Crown, it’s truly a boy’s sport. Since 1867, only 10 fillies have ever won one of the races, and none have won all three. In the same week that all this drama unfolded, the New York Times had a top-read story called “Backlash: Women Bullying Women,” which discussed how women’s progress in the workplace is often, strangely enough, impeded by other women. We thought it only fitting this week to show an example of female chivalry, in the story of Marylou Whitney and Rachel Alexandra. In the end, it took a girl to let a girl in.
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