Rachel Alexandra is out of the Belmont. Do you think her owner made the right decision?

Of course they made the right decision. I think the filly deserves a rest and although I personally think she could have gotten the 12 furlongs, that race would have been quite a challenge for a speed filly going 12 furlongs and battling to the wire against good closers like Mine that Bird and Dunkirk. I think it's very appropriate to give the filly ample rest between her races rather than racing her 3 times in 5 weeks.

Am I happy about it? No, not really... I love to see a talented filly who can beat up on the boys, especially in a Triple Crown race... and having the filly face the colts brings a little life back into my sport that is sadly slowly dying. But I'd rather see the filly race long into the future rather than use all of her energy in this single race and be wasted for the rest of her career... I loved Rags to Riches and I was ecstatic when she won the Belmont, but the race did seem to be her downfall... she came out with fevers and fractures leaving her to race once more before the complications took her out of racing altogether.

I trust Jess Jackson to do what's right with the filly, as he certainly did well with Curlin. Since Mine that Bird is a gelding, there's going to be plenty of time for this filly to face him again whether it be later this year or in the coming years. While the Belmont is a prestigious Triple Crown race, there's many more appropriate races where this filly could face the colts. And she needs to start focusing on her summer and fall campaign including a test run over a synthetic surface.

Now Calvin Borel hops back aboard Mine That Bird to complete his quest to become the first jockey ever to win the all Triple Crown races in one year while riding different horses. Good luck Calvin!

I agree that keeping RA out of the Belmont was a wise decision by Jess Jackson. With no Triple Crown at stake, why put her through the ordeal of 3 tough races in 5 weeks? Why squeeze the lemon dry? She also has the edge over her main 3YO rival, MTB in their only meeting and has much less to gain, and more to lose, then he does in an early rematch.

I don't agree that just because MTB was gaining on her at the finish of the Preakness is necessarily a sign that her form is declining. A horse either runs fast early or late and Big Drama engaged her in a tiring pace duel while carrying her wide around the 1st turn. she was just paying the price but still had enough left to hold off her rival. I think Rhonda is right on this. The Preakness is 1 3/16, not 1 3/16 plus a few yards, and she had enough to beat the field at the official distance. Actually, studies have shown that big stretch gains when the horses stretch out in the their next race are the biggest losing bets in racing. Not only does having to extend their late kick dilute the power of the closer's late charge, longer distances also have slower and less tiring early fractions for front-runners to contend with. I'd say that at this point, the ability to go 1 1/2 miles is still an open question for the top 3 in the Preakness. In any case, the divisional championships will be decided at either 1 1/8 or 1 1/4 miles come Breeder's Cup Time and I would say that at this point Zenyatta is the best horse of either sex or any age.

Note to Shebro. I agree 100% with you about MTB. I thought he ran a super race in the Derby and disagreed with those that it was a "fluke" and I expected him to run big again in the Preakness - which he did. I just thought he was up against a super opponent in RA that day and predicted a tight RA - MTB Exacta.

ya they made the right decision. this race is all wrong for RA. she seems to need a little break. or at least an easy race where she doesnt have to dig so deep for the win. the mile and a half with MTB breathin down her neck in the stretch would have been brutal. it took Curlin months to come back from his Belmont, he still wasnt right for the Travers and finished a distant third. i doubt RA will race as a four year old so they really have to make the most of every race here. and if she didnt like the Pimlico surface she really would have hated Belmonts, its even deeper and softer. i really dont think she would have won this race.

she has a bright future. a Rachel Alexandra vs Zenyatta match up would be great for racing. and i hope she gets more chances to run against the boys. she really is the best three year old in the country right now. ideally for me, she would flip flop between the female division and male division. almost alternating, every other start or so.

She appeared to have trouble with the Preakness distance and track surface, so I doubt the Belmont would've suited her, but that can be true of a male horse, too. Since a deep surface 12 furlong race wasn't a good choice for that horse, I think the owner made the right decision.

But I'm reading blogs/comments all over the web saying she isn't running the Belmont mostly because it's too tiring for a female or that the Triple Crown series is too much for a female. This is a new belief and it bugs me.

Winning Colors and Genuine Risk ran in all three Triple races and ran against colts in their final Derby preps, too. Both of them were "targets" in the Preakness and therefore had tough trips, but both finished well AND went on to run the Belmont. Then after the Triple series both kept racing and did well. And they both lived long lives, so obviously the Triple Crown wasn't too much for the them.

At the time people believed a filly could and would win the Triple Crown. Now more than two decades later people have inexplicably developed the silly belief that fillies are too fragile to even run all three races.

If a female horse has trouble after racing against males, it's because of something wrong with that individual horse and/or her training. It does not mean that all fillies are too fragile to run in all the Triple Crown races.

Sorry for the rant but I feel like we're sliding back to the 1950s with this "weaker sex" nonsense.

Like you, I expected that her connections wouldn't run her in the Belmont. First let me say that I hope they've really just decided she needs a rest, and are not actually covering up some injury she may have had. All we've heard since the Preakness is that she is so tough and bounced back so well that their biggest challenge is keeping her from doing too much. Now we hear that she's tired and needs a rest. That's probably all it is though, as her being tough in the morning and hard to rate in the afternoon(as in the Preakness), could be a red flag that the pressure is getting to her, and that mentally, at least, she needs time off. To me, the most impressive aspect of her Oaks victory was the way she relaxed off of that other filly and waited until Borel asked her to move. The Preakness was a different story - either due to her rankness or Borel's overconfidence (or perhaps a little of both). That said - I think they are probably just looking for a graceful way out as it looks like Mine That Bird would have cleaned her clock going 1 1/2 miles in New York, if he holds his form. What an amazing little warrior and wonderful surprise he has been this season! He will obviously rate as far off the pace as is needed(that's an understatement), until his pilot (any pilot), pushes the button, and then kicks into a drive that no other 3 yr. old(so far), can match the last 3/8 of a mile. He was gobbling Rachel up in Baltimore and her connections know it. She deserves a confidence booster in the form of an easier trip - either against fillies, or against colts going shorter - like a mile and 1/8, or even the Travers going a mile and 1/4 in late August - after a 2 month break, and still getting the 5 lbs. I'm glad they're taking care of her and I too would LOVE to see her hook the other 'Big' mare later on in the season. Her connections have publicly proclaimed that she's the best 3 year old in the country, but I think they're going to have to choose her spots very carefully from here on out and beat the top colt again, or have him tail off badly in form for her to sew up that honor. I just hope and pray that by some miracle, these top 3 all stay healthy til the end of the year. It sure might be a Breeders Cup for the ages!

ADD: bobphilo - of course you are right. There's no guarantee that MTB will have the same closing kick down that long, deep Belmont lane that he has demonstrated going shorter in the first 2 classics. And given a longer race and uncontested, slower pace, RA may have been able to coast along and finish stronger than she did at Pimlico. However, I don't think for a minute that the boyz would have let her get away with that, and she is very unlikely to have relaxed off the pace early, judging by her Pimlico performance. Just one more thing concerning the endless comparisons and debates over who is the better 3 year old of the 2: They are both incredible athletes, but I'm kind of tired of hearing that RA is so much better than the colt, or that he's 'not Triple Crown material'. I think it's only fair to note that she is a huge, scopey, powerfully built filly (looks more like a colt, in fact), who was born in January and was getting a 5 lb. weight allowance from MTB, whereas he is a little tiny gelding (probably has less testosterone in his veins than her),

who wasn't born until mid-May (he was technically still a 2 year old when he won the Derby), and was giving her 5 lbs.

In other words - she is probably 200-300 lbs heavier than him, nearly 4 months older than him and was carrying 5 lbs. less than him in the Preakness, yet he nearly caught her at the wire despite being blocked repeatedly. RA is a brilliant, classy, exciting, royally bred champion, who was born with a silver spoon in her mouth and continues to thrill and delight the racing world more with every start, but MTB deserves just as much respect, if not more, for his meteoric rise from the deserts of New Mexico just 30 days ago, to the pinnacle of the North American horse racing world.

I too think that Rachel's owners made the right decision. I believe that Mr. Jackson is going to do what is best for his filly. They have not said that she is tired, they have said that she DESERVES a rest. That is bigdifferencee. She has proven that she can beat the boys, and I believe that their intent is to try to win HOY. Rachel will meet the boys again sometime in the future. So why race her now, when it makes more sense to give her some well deserved rest to meet the boys later in the year.

Also, it has been written that Rachel did not like the surface. She was having a hard time, not due to being tired. I really do not think that Mine that Bird would have gotten by her. She would have kicked in a little extra and still beat him in the Preakness.

I heard approximately what occurred to Rachel final night time, Sandra. I was once looking "The Edge" on HRTV they usually had a phase approximately it, at the side of a mobilephone dialog with one of the most vets who's treating RA. Apparently the mare suffered a bruised colon for the period of her supply final Tuesday night time. She had a lovely, healthful filly, in keeping with the vet, however the foal's passage certainly prompted a few disorders for her. They did the surgical procedure to take away the broken component to the colon to preclude it from fitting inflamed and necrotic. The surgical procedure was once triumphant, and as of final night time, they had been anticipating the mare to make an entire healing. She's again on her toes, and he or she and her foal are each doing good. So I'm constructive. Rood and Riddle is among the nice equine hospitals within the nation- it is on a par with New Bolton- and there may be each and every motive to feel that RA will get well and can pass directly to have a couple of extra foals. As lengthy as she does not expand a submit operative contamination, she must be excellent,

I didn't think she would run she can't handle the distance and they know it she's a nice horse but I think she'll never be a great horse they'll race her lightly and send her off to the breed barn which is fine. I guess all that talk about the best racing the best was just talk after she almost got beat at a fairly short distance once she got in with the big boys there is no sense in running her with tuffer competition if she gets hurt. But I no longer think she's as good as a lot of other people there just aren't as many fillies around in her league but i would like to see her run with other good horses before i believe she's got nothing left to prove.

Of course they made the right decision. She really didn't have much to gain and everything to lose. No need to over extend her this early in her career. If she broke down look at the money they would have lost. I would much rather she rest up and race Zenyatta. I didn't like how they dragged their decision out. I think they knew right after the Preakness but wanted Mine That Bird's camp sweat out who was going to ride.

I agree with your thoughts, for the same reasons. I think she was definately laboring at the Preakness distance, and the Bird was closing fast on her...CB said she was having alot of trouble getting a grip on the Pimlico track...isn´t Belmont (Big Sandy) likely potentially harder for her? Not to mention added distance, her 2 big races run recently, not that the colts haven´t also but she is a filly, after all...

If she were mine, I would do exactly what they did...give her a break, and save her for other challenges to come. A match up with Zenyatta would thrill me to death!