It’s been 85 years since a filly has won the second leg of the Triple Crown.
This year, Rachel Alexandra, a 20 1/4-length winner of the Kentucky Oaks ridden by Calvin Borel, is the probable favorite for the Preakness and most likely contender to win the 1 3/16-mile test for three-year-olds.
The Oaks winner was so impressive in her last outing that Kentucky Derby-winning jockey Borel is going to switch mounts to ride the filly.
As far as the record books go back, no rider that has won the Derby in its 135-year history has ever switched mounts for the Preakness.
And to Borel’s credit, it appears that he is making the right decision.
Mine That Bird’s victory in the Derby was pure fluke but ’Alexandra’s in the Oaks wasn’t.
The filly had won three straight graded stakes races, while the colt had lost three straight races, two of which were against non-graded stakes competition.
To top it off, Rachel Alexandra’s Beyer Speed Rating (108) topped the Derby winner’s (105).
The field for the Preakness is limited to 14 horses, and if any one the entries is to beat the filly, look for it to be Derby favorite Friesan Fire, who was beat by Mine That Bird by 42 lengths on the first Saturday of May.
Friesan Fire didn’t in the Derby, but he may in the Preakness. Especially if the filly can’t go wire-to-wire against the boys in a distance of which she has never run.
But if she puts forth another Secretariat-like romp, she will become the fifth filly ever to win the Preakness.
- Matthew Kimel, sports editor
