Fickle Decision Denies 'Rachel' A Triple Crown Shot

Preakness

The issue would never have come up if Jess Jackson of Stonestreet Stables and Harold T. McCormick had not purchased Rachel Alexandra soon after the Oaks and taken a more enlightened approach to the second jewel of the Triple Crown. Jackson, who won the Preakness with Curlin a couple of years ago and may be better known to casual race fans as the founder of the Kendall-Jackson Winery, had no gender-related reluctance to enter the horse in the Preakness.

"Gender doesn't matter," he said. "A thoroughbred wants to run. If a filly is as good as a colt, they ought to compete. That was my position and that's why we came."

Gloria Steinem could not have said it better, but before we take this game of "what if" too far, it's only fair to point out that Jackson said after the race that the previous owners made the right decision.

Say what?

"Let me add something there," Jackson said. "I would have done what the previous owner did, too. I would have kept her out of the Derby. That's a cavalry charge. Twenty horses. You know what happens. Everybody trying to get around the first turn. You make or break the race right there, and if you're blocked from then on, a good horse couldn't become a champion or be able to demonstrate that in that race. I wouldn't have put her in there."

And we all would have thought the same thing after Saturday's victory in the Preakness.

What was he thinking?

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