Rachel Alexandra

A few people have asked me about the decision of the principal owner of the great filly, Rachel Alexandra, not to run her in the Belmont Stakes next Saturday. While I was looking forward to seeing her in the race, I am relieved that she is not running. Modern Thoroughbreds need about a month to recover fully from a peak effort such as the one she gave in the Preakness; which she won only two weeks and a day after winning the Kentucky Oaks, the day before the Kentucky Derby, in a brilliant performance. If she were mine, I probably would have skipped the Preakness and run her in the Belmont Stakes, thus giving her five weeks and a day to recover from her effort in the Oaks. Given that she had run in the Oaks, under no circumstances would I have run her in both the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes.

Very few colts, let alone fillies, run in all three of the so-called triple crown races, the Derby, Preakness, and Belmont Stakes. Those that do run in all three are seldom the same afterwards. Although the Derby, Preakness, and Belmont Stakes are great races, they were not designed to be a series; a sportswriter in the 1930s, Charlie Hatton, linked them as the triple crown. Although I admire the horses that do manage to run in all three of those races and remain sound, I do not think that I would ask a horse to attempt the feat.