Allow me to repeat myself, I thought Rachel Alexandra was good enough to win the Derby, so I believe she is good enough to win the Preakness. (Winning the Kentucky Oaks by 20 was good enough for me to think she would have outraced Mine That Bird the next day in the Derby). The fact that her former connections did not nominate Rachel Alexandra for a measly $600 or even the late Triple Crown nomination fee of $6,000 is coming back to haunt the current Jess Jackson partnership.
Due to dated and arcane rules for starting in the Preakness, a bunch of owners can actually keep out Rachel Alexandra by bringing their less than renowned and Triple Crown nominated horses to race.
Strange, fascinating and par for the horse racing course...
Methinks that if the owners get together and put enough horses in to keep her out then Jess Jackson will get exactly what he deserves for Hi-Jacking Mine That Birds jockey on the edge of the second most important race in his life.
ReplyDeleteI don't know much about jockey decisions about what horse to ride, but I do know that jocks do leave most of the choices to agents. Having agents make the decision takes the heat off the jocks, just ask Garret Gomez, who had one of the harder choices to make in recent years between Dunkirk and Pioneerof the Nile.
ReplyDeleteIf Mine That Bird has turned into a superhorse, medoubts, it won't matter who rides him. Although Borel's ride certainly made the difference in the Derby.
Do you think Mine That Bird is really better than Rachel Alexandra???