Kentucky Oaks Champ Rachel Alexendra May Take on Boys in Preakness

Last weekend was a great weekend for the ailing sport of horse racing. The excitement started on Friday when filly Rachel Alexendra ran away with Kentucky Oaks in a run that rekindled memories of Secretariat's romp in the Belmont in 1973. The Kentucky Derby, in front of its largest television audience in over a decade and a half, lived up to its expectations when Mine That Bird scored a 50-1 upset coming from out of nowhere to capture the 135th running of the "Run for the Roses".

Didn't think it could get any better? The Triple Crown series may add more drama after Rachel Alexendra was sold yesterday to former Curlin owner Jess Jackson and his friend Harold T. McCormick. The champion filly's previous owners thwarted talk of running her in the Preakness Stakes and instead looked to all girls race at Belmont Park next month for her next time on the track. It appears that the new connections, which will include trainer Steve Asmussen, may point her to the Preakness Stakes instead.

If you think that the new connections are crazy for wanting to run their girl against the boys keep in mind that Rachel Alexendra's run in the Oaks was rated as faster as the Derby for the first time in decades. You should also take into consideration that the filly has a style that suits the Pimlico Racetrack well as she possesses a vast amount of earlier speed.

There will be an issue of whether the new owners want to pay the $100,000 to allow her to enter the race as she had not been nominated by her old connections to run in Triple Crown races earlier this year. There is also a question if the Preakness Stakes will get the maximum amount of entries (14) which would leave her on the outside looking in as horses that had been nominated to run get first crack at the race. Something tells me that the powers that be in horse racing would want to see her face the boys and that its bound to happen. And that leaves one last question: Will Calvin Borel choose to ride the filly or the Kentucky Derby champ a week from Saturday?

Here is Rachel Alexendra's romp in the Oaks a week ago: