Just as you were about to consider how much she might win by, the little gelding Mine That Bird emerged from the pack and took off after the filly. He was never going to get there, but he never stopped trying, Derby winner chasing Oaks winner, proving that his Derby victory was as real as it looked.
There will be no Triple Crown - again . . . Only Calvin Borel can win it.
Rachel Alexandra won the Preakness by 1 length. Mine That Bird was second, a half-length in front of the hard-trying Musket Man.
To the uninformed, this race was about the filly vs. the boys. In reality, it was a race with 13 horses. First one to the wire wins.
"She just wants to run," said the filly's co-owner, Jess Jackson. "Gender doesn't matter. A thoroughbred wants to run, and if a filly is as good as the colts, they ought to compete. That was my position and that's why we came."
And that's why everybody watched. They wanted to see if the filly was as good as she had looked in 2009. Wanted to see if Mine That Bird could really come from last and win again. Wanted to see the Oaks winner and Derby winner nearly on even terms in deep stretch. Rarely has a potential script played out with more flair.
Favored Rachel Alexandra ran the mile-and-3/16 in 1:55.08, translating to a Beyer speed figure of 108, exactly the same as her Oaks.
Borel could have ridden the Derby winner or Oaks winner. He went with the filly, making him the first jockey ever to take himself off the Derby winner to ride another horse in the Preakness. The horse he believed in became the first filly to win the Preakness since 1924.
"[Mine That Bird] would have to run the race of his life to beat my filly," Borel said on Friday. "I think all the other 12 are going to have to run the race of their lives or me fall off or something stupid happen."
