Girl Power

I'm reading this amazing book about a former climber, Greg Mortenson, who has made a career out of building schools for children in Pakistan and Afghanistan. You may have heard of the book, Three Cups of Tea, and I highly recommend it. At one point in his journey of learning how to work within the "systems" of both countries, he makes the observation that one of the keys to changing the perception of the United States in these Muslim countries, is the education of women. Put simply, women have the ability to change the world.

Well it seems that horse racing is catching up with the rest of the world when it comes to sharing that opinion. Rachel Alexandra's victory in the Preakness on Saturday has the sports world atwitter in possibility and it seems that the beautiful and talented filly keeps racking up admirers and fans. Could this be the hero that the racing industry has long been waiting for?

Certainly the fans at Pimlico on Saturday were swept away with the superstar before she even beat the boys at their own game! They were chanting her name as she walked to the paddock to be saddled. Ratings are up and all of a sudden, even without the possibility of a Triple Crown, racing is exciting again.

I hope it continues but I seriously doubt if Rachel will run in the Belmont. First of all, it is too long a race for her and second of all, she has nothing to prove and lots to lose. Jackson could retire her tomorrow and breed her to Curlin to produce his new breed of horse and no one would begrudge him that option. It would be amazing, however, if he let her keep racing until the Fall, but of course, with each race comes the risk of injury.

I predict that Mine That Bird will take the Belmont easily. A few more lengths and he would have won the Preakness, in my opinion, and IF Borel were to change horses once again (BUT HE WON'T--SMITH HAS ALREADY BEEN GIVEN THE BELMONT MOUNT), there would have been the possibility of a personal Triple Crown for the jockey to keep things interesting.

Still--no complaints. People are watching. People are talking and it it takes a girl to save the sport, well then why should it be any different than anything else?