Preakness Horse Race

Rachel Alexandra, the 3-year-old filly that stormed out of the Kentucky Oaks with an aura of invincibility, almost certainly will run in the Preakness on Saturday. Her path as a $100,000 supplemental entry was cleared over the weekend when Mark Allen, co-owner of Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird, and Ahmed Zayat, owner of Derby runner-up Pioneerof the Nile, backed away from a plan that would have diverted her from the race.

On the outskirts of town, a couple of miles away from the UFO souvenir shops and the street lights decorated with alien eyes, the cowboy and the veterinarian got together a few weeks ago to discuss their options. They had a plan for Mine That Bird, and that plan didn't involve the Kentucky Derby or the Preakness Stakes. But they got to talking about the Triple Crown series, the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to race at Churchill Downs, and their minds started racing.

The jockey who lives on the rail will have a long trip to get there in Saturday's 134th Preakness Stakes, horse racing's second leg of the Triple Crown. When race favorite Rachel Alexandra drew the 13th post Wednesday for the 13-horse race, it meant that Calvin Borel, known affectionately by fans and less so by fellow jockeys as Calvin Bo-Rail, would either have to bide his time or make a trophy dash out of the gate. That apparent problem didn't bother the connections of the filly one bit.

from baltimore Calvin Borel is a hick from Louisiana, and we mean that in the kindest way. He comes from Catahoula Parish, population 10,000, and even if he doesn't live there now, he never really left. He is 116 pounds of bouncy energy. He smiles through the good days and the bad. Also through gaps where teeth used to be. Borel doesn't just answer questions. He "yes, sirs" and "no, sirs." His grammar is faulty, his work skills are not.

So, you want to bet on the Preakness, or at least sound intelligent about it as you watch today on TV. We are here to help. The basics: The race is the second leg of horse racing's coveted Triple Crown. No horse has won the Triple Crown since Affirmed in 1978. The only one with a chance this year is Mine That Bird, who won the Kentucky Derby at 50-1 odds. This 134th Preakness is held at Pimlico, an aging fire trap that exists on tradition and certainly not ambience.

The big headline in Saturday's Baltimore Sun missed by only a word. It read: The Lady and the Champ. Had they made the third word "is," they'd have nailed it. Rachel Alexandra won the Preakness on Saturday, the fifth filly in 134 years to do so. The last time a filly won this second leg of horse racing's Triple Crown was 1924. That was four years after women were given the right to vote in America. Women's pride has had its good days, and this was certainly one of them.

Two-thirds of the way through, the emerging story line of horse racing's Triple Crown has been reduced to this: The filly that no one expected against the gelding that no one knew. Now the question is, will a sport that needs a shot in the arm get that new marquee matchup when the Triple Crown moves to Elmont, N.Y., for the Belmont Stakes in three weeks? Chip Woolley Jr.

(copyright) 2009 Equibase Co. LLC, all rights reserved. 12th race from Pimlico Race Course 1 3/16 miles on dirt. Purse $1.1 million, 3-year-olds, stakes. Value of race $1,100,000. Winner: $660,000. Second: $220,000. Third: $121,000. Fourth: $66,000. Fifth: $33,000. Horse Jockey Wgt PP ST 1/4 1/2 3/4 Str Fin Odds Rachel Borel 121 13 7 1-hd 1-hd 1- 1/2 1-4 1-1 1.80 Alexandra Mine That Bird Smith 126 2 13 13 13 11-3 4-hd 2- 1/2 6.60 Musket Man Coa 126 3 8 8- 1/2 8-2 7-1 3-2 3-2 1/2 11.10 Flying Private Garcia 126 10 11 10-hd 10-hd 10-hd 6-1 4-1 1/2 25.40 Big Drama Velazquez 126 1 1 2-2 2-1 1/2 2-1 2-hd 5-2 1/4 10.40 Papa Clem Bejarano 126 7 5 6-1 4-hd 4-1 5-1 6-nk 14.10 Terrain Rose 126 6 12 12-4 12-2 1/2 9-2 1/2 7-3 7- 3/4 25.80 Luv Gov Theriot 126 4 10 11-2 1/2 11- 1/2 12-hd 10-3 8-2 1/4 24.10 General Quarters Leparoux 126 8 6 7-1 1/2 7-2 6-1 8- 1/2 9-7 3/4 16.30 Friesan Fire Saez 126 5 3 3- 1/2 3-1 3-1 9-hd 10-7 1/4 9.00 Pioneerof the Nile Gomez 126 9 4 4- 1/2 5-hd 5-hd 11-7 11-6 1/4 6.10 Tone It Down Desormeaux 126 12 9 9-5 9-3 13 12-1 1/2 12- 1/2 23.90 Take the Points Prado 126 11 2 5-hd 6- 1/2 8-hd 13 13 18.00 Time: 23.130; 46.710; 1:11.

In the early 1990s, the hits just kept coming for Wayne Lukas' stable. Not win after win in major races, but hits below the belt, blows that virtually made an ordinary outfit out of what had been a racing monolith for a decade. The resourceful Lukas is now back big-time, on a roll that has made the Triple Crown series his private preserve.

Jockey Shane Sellers finished a disappointing 12th with Skip Away, but he and his agent, Ronnie Ebanks, had other reasons to be grieving after Saturday's Kentucky Derby. Sellers had passed up the mount on Grindstone to ride another horse in mid-March, and Sunday morning at Churchill Downs, Ebanks was paying off a $2,000 Derby side bet that he had made with trainer Wayne Lukas. Is there anything that Lukas didn't win?