You Go, Girl: Female Sports Fans Have Something To Cheer About

Rachel Alexandra, America needs you in a big way.

When's the last time the country got this excited about a female?

I'll tell you when: Susan Boyle.

Boyle, of course, was the Scottish spinster with the frumpy clothes and bird's-nest hair who wowed everyone last month with her million-dollar voice on the TV show Britain's Got Talent.

Millions of us watched that stirring Internet clip of her singing "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserables.

She captured our imagination, this Plain Jane whose talent and grit overcame her physical limitations.

Of course, there's nothing plain about you, Rachel Alexandra, not after your big win in the 134th Preakness Stakes on Saturday.

You bounced back after an awkward start, surged on the outside under the calm hand of jockey Calvin Borel, and held off another speed merchant, Mine That Bird, for the victory.

You were the first filly to win the Preakness since 1924. Borel calls you "a once-in-a-lifetime horse."

You proved a girl - hope you don't mind that term - could win against the boys.

For one shining afternoon, with millions of people watching you at Pimlico Race Course and on NBC, you proved you were the most powerful female in the land.

Besides Oprah, I mean.

And maybe Nancy Pelosi. (Although Pelosi, she's looking a little rattled these days. If she hems and haws any more about those torture briefings, her larynx might seize up.)

So now the country is riveted by your story, Rachel Alexandra - at least that part of the country that still pays attention to horse racing.

And female fans have a new sports hero, even if it's a four-legged one.

Oh, don't discount the effect you've had on the Venus-symbol crowd. The $59,726,342 bet on the Preakness was the second-highest amount bet on that race. Track officials said Sunday that much of that was the result of the national media coverage that attracted women to the race.

I must have talked to a dozen women in the past two days, and all of them said your wins in the Kentucky Oaks and Preakness have inspired the sisterhood.

They loved watching your Kentucky Oaks romp by 20 1/2 lengths - that's like leaving the rest of the field in another Zip code.

But that was in the biggest race for fillies in the country.

When you won at the Preakness, under threatening skies, with the loose track "breaking out" under you, according to Borel, well, that just confirmed your "super-filly" status.