Ann Quasman, the host of a Baltimore talk-radio show aimed at women, isn't exactly the world's biggest horse racing fan.
But she's bursting with excitement - and feminine pride - over Rachel Alexandra, the filly competing against history in today's Preakness Stakes. Quasman and many others predict the "girl horse" will defeat the boys.
"Girl Power at the Preakness!" Quasman trumpeted yesterday on her Twitter account.
"Whenever you have something that happens for women, no matter what shape they come in, that's unusual," the host at WCBM-AM (680) says, laughing. "Yay! And you go, girl!"
Rachel Alexandra is turning the heads of women who pay horse racing little attention - to say nothing of those who do. They're joining the filly's Facebook page, studying racing forms and digging in their wallets to place bets on her.
The filly is also bringing some much-needed star power to the struggling racing industry.
"Anything that can inject some life into this sport," says Allie Conrad, executive director of CANTER Mid-Atlantic, a Maryland racehorse rescue organization, who's rooting for the filly and hoping her sheer athletic power can help turn the sport around.
"This horse seems to be unstoppable. ... She's a machine," Conrad says of the filly who has won seven of her 10 races. "All the boys were trying to enter horses in the Preakness 'cause they are terrified that she's going to come in there and clean their clocks. I think that's pretty cool."
Calvin Borel rode Rachel Alexandra to victory in the Kentucky Oaks and 50-1 longshot Mine That Bird to the Kentucky Derby win a day later. He surprised many by leaving the Derby winner to ride Rachel Alexandra; he calls her "the best horse I've ever been on," in the Preakness.
Fillies rarely compete in elite races. That's mainly because the males, pumped with testosterone, are built stronger and are faster.
With a win today, Rachel Alexandra - the 8-5 morning-line favorite and the only female of the 12 horses on the track - would be the first filly adorned with black-eyed Susans in 85 years. The last to earn that honor was Nellie Morse in 1924.
The last time a filly even entered the Preakness was 1999, when Excellent Meeting failed to finish the race.
Mayor Sheila Dixon, the city's first female chief executive, identifies with what Rachel Alexandra is trying to do. She plans to bet on the filly - if she can figure out how to do it.
