BALTIMORE - It is the rare sporting event where the competition is better than the anticipation. Saturday's Preakness at Pimlico had the Kentucky Derby winner against the Kentucky Oaks winner, 12 males against one female and a rider who had to make a choice based on what he felt and what he knew.

With a few raindrops falling down upon her on the way around the track, Rachel Alexandra owned the Preakness, rushing through serious fractions under pressure from the speedy Big Drama before opening up a huge lead in the stretch, as the field seemed to fall away behind her.

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."

Just after the wire, Mine That Bird got right next to the filly. She then took off again during the gallop out and was soon 10 lengths in front.

"She got so much determination," Borel said. "When you look in the filly's eyes, it's unbelievable. You win."

Mine That Bird gained respect in defeat.

"I'm thrilled to death with the race my little horse ran," trainer Chip Woolley said.

At the quarter pole, Mike Smith slightly steadied Mine That Bird behind a wall of horses. Then he swung the horse out wide for that final charge. Mine That Bird was 18 lengths back after a quarter-mile and 1 length back at the finish.

Mine That Bird will be back for the Belmont Stakes. The filly's connections were not ready to commit quite yet.

"I'd love to race in New York," Jackson said. "The Belmont is always a consideration for a champion. Would we love to run? Yes. Could she win? We think so."

The Preakness was worth $1.1 million. Jackson had to put up $100,000 to supplement Rachel Alexandra. The winners got $660,000. Down the road, this is going to be about more than money. Jackson would like to breed a superhorse.

So, next spring or some spring thereafter, he plans to breed the 2009 Preakness winner to the 2007 Preakness winner - Rachel Alexandra to two-time Horse of the Year Curlin.

For now, there is more racing. Perhaps, the Belmont. Maybe a meeting with the brilliant, unbeaten mare Zenyatta.

"It's good for racing to have champions run against champions," Jackson said. "That's the heart of the theory. You raise the bar, take chances. I'm an entrepreneur. I take risks, but the rewards are worth it."

Two fillies that won the Derby, Genuine Risk (1980) and Winning Colors (1988), tried the Preakness, but could not win. Rachel did not try the Derby and won the Preakness.

"I saw [Rachel Alexandra] breezing at Churchill before the Oaks and I knew she was a superstar," said Musket Man's trainer, Derek Ryan. "My horse ran well, but we got beat by a great one. She's a filly for the ages."

If you are wondering if the filly could have won the Triple Crown, wonder no longer. She almost certainly was not going to get the chance. Her former owner was never going to run her against colts. Jackson, who bought her after the Oaks, said he would not have run in the Derby had he owned her then, calling the race a "cavalry charge."

"She took the heat and kept on going," Pioneerof the Nile's trainer, Bob Baffert, said of the filly.

Even though he said Rachel Alexandra was not as comfortable at Pimlico as she was at Churchill Downs, Borel had no doubts during the race.

"Turning for home I knew I was home free," he said.

The filly's new trainer, Steve Asmussen, allowed that he was under serious pressure. If she lost, he was going to be a convenient target.

So what was the trainer's contribution?

"We got the saddle to stay on her and got out of the way," he said.

So, how good is this filly? And what would happen if the Derby winner and Preakness winner met in the Belmont Stakes?

Borel, the only man to have ridden them both, is convinced he knows the answer to both questions.

"Mile-and-a-16th, mile-and-a-half, 2 miles, whatever, she is the best horse in the country," the hottest jockey in the country said.

Infield, wallets empty

 

The Preakness infield started to become a happening in 1973 when Secretariat came to Pimlico during his Triple Crown run. Due to the giant infield crowds, Preakness attendance had grown to more than 100,000 in recent years.

The infield was a ghost town Saturday. No longer could all those college students truck alcohol into the infield. They had to buy Pimlico's beer. They responded with a massive boycott. The total crowd went from 112,222 last year to 77,850.

The students were not missed at the betting windows. The handle on the Preakness card was $86.6 million, up 18 percent over last year's $73.5 million. A total of $61 million was bet on the Preakness as opposed to $47 million last year. *