Rachel Alexander is a horse; a filly actually and she won the Preakness, the first filly to do so in 85 years. That's interesting you say but so what? Well read on; do I have a story for you.

First of all Rachel Alexander is in everyone's estimation, an amazing horse. However her original owners wouldn't "nominate her to the Triple Crown races, believing fillies should run only against their own gender. "

Yup her owners didn't want her to run against the boys. Enter a new owner. He says heck yes, let her run and paid extra money for a late nomination.

But wait people said, look what happened last year when a filly ran with the boys; she broke her legs (NOTE: after she finished second by the way) and had to be put down, you wouldn’t want that to happen again. Think of the children watching.

But wait said a couple of the other owners:, she might beat our horses; let’s add lots of other colts to the race and then she won’t be able to race. Think of the business; what will happen if our boys are beat by a filly?

The nefarious plot was about to happen and there was little to be done until---it was foiled by the doyenne of racing Marylou Whitney.

“We think Rachel Alexandra is wonderful,” Whitney’s husband, John Hendrickson, said. “We entered our horse because we thought we had a shot. But if we are the deciding factor on whether or not Rachel Alexandra gets in, then we’ll withdraw and wait until the Belmont. We’re for sportsmanship and what’s best for the game. It is ladies first for us.”

And it was ladies first; Rachel Alexander ran and won big time. The moral of this story? Oh I don’t know; it’s just such a great story I had to tell it.