Jonathan Friedman
Celebrating girl (horse) power
Thoroughbred horse racing has long since lost its status as one of the nation’s top sports. One of the few things it has left that captures mainstream attention is the Kentucky Derby and the annual hope that the winner of that race will continue with victories in the Preakness and Belmont Stakes-and become a Triple Crown champion. With Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense losing by a head last month in the Preakness Stakes to Curlin, that possibility went out the window this year. But just as it appeared this would be another downer of a Triple Crown series, a beautiful chestnut filly named Rags to Riches made it something to remember with a thrilling victory on Saturday in the Belmont. She became the first filly to beat the boys in that race in 102 years, an accomplishment that transcended the sport.
It is not unheard of for fillies and mares to beat their male counterparts on the track. Just last year an amazing Brit named Ouija Board won against males in a major international race. And in the 1980s, a female crossed the finish line first in the Kentucky Derby two times. But it is still a rare occurrence, especially in the United States, for a female to win against males. And with the mile-and-a-half Belmont being the longest of the Triple Crown races, this was not the venue one would expect to see that rare occurrence.
Three weeks ago, when Street Sense came a head short of claiming the second jewel of the Triple Crown, thoroughbred racing fans sighed, as it became the 29th consecutive year that there would be no horse to win all three races. The only consolation we could think of was that maybe Curlin and Street Sense would meet again in the Belmont for a rubber match. But that too became impossible when Street Sense’s connections soon announced he would not compete in the race.
Then, just days before the race, the Belmont got a breath of new life when trainer Todd Pletcher, who is the best in the country at his job but oddly had never won a Triple Crown race, announced he would try for his first win with his filly.
Rags to Riches had already proved this year that the three-year-olds of her sex were no match for her. Suffering her lone career defeat in her first race, she went on to win her next four, all against fillies. The day before the Kentucky Derby, she competed in the female version, the Kentucky Oaks, and crushed the competition. With her sire, A.P. Indy, having won the Belmont in 1992 and her brother, Jazil, having won it just last year, the Belmont was in Rags to Riches’ genes, and that is the main reason Pletcher and her other connections thought she might be able to pull out a surprise.
Although the betting public made Rags to Riches the second choice, just behind Curlin, no major “expert” picked her to win. They believed Curlin could be something special, and nobody was going out on a limb to pick a filly, especially at the grueling distance of a mile and a half.
Things did not bode well for Rags to Riches coming out of the gate on Belmont day. She stumbled at the start and fell forward, with her nose nearly hitting the ground. But with help from her jockey Johnny Velazquez, Rags to Riches was able to pick herself up and continue with the race.
She stayed back in the middle of the pack as the front-running horses led the seven-horse field during the opening portion of the race. Avoiding the possibility of the larger males knocking into her, Rags to Riches was moved to the far outside as she raced along.
Then with a half-mile to go, four horses remained up front side-by-side, with one of them being the filly. And soon, two of the competitors dropped off, and the final quarter-mile was Rags to Riches versus the Preakness champions as they ran next to each other, eyeball-to-eyeball. Race caller Tom Durkin shouted, “These two in a battle of the sexes at the Belmont Stakes!” And the 46,000 people in attendance roared as the possibility of witnessing history became apparent. The two athletes blazed along in the fastest final quarter of the Belmont in several years. But in the end, it was a day for the girls, as Rags to Riches won by a neck.
Dianne Boothe, a friend of mine who attended the race at Belmont Park on Long Island, wrote to me in an e-mail, “Oh my god, words cannot even describe! You can’t believe how loud the crowd was too. You’d have thought a Triple Crown was on the line!”
I wasn’t there to see the historic moment in person, but I got the next best thing, watching the race on the big screen at Hollywood Park. As Rags to Riches battled down the stretch, the crowd cheered regardless of whether they had money on her, in one of those rare moments in the sports when wagering took a backseat. And when the filly finally crossed the line first, a group of women standing in front of me broke out in tears and screams, overcome by the emotion of it all.
And here’s the best part; this is not the last we’ve seen of the new darling of horse racing. One of the most detrimental things about this sport is that its stars are retired too early. With the big money being in breeding, it is not the best financial decision to keep a horse racing, especially when top males garner six-figure fees every time they’re asked to do their business. But Rags to Riches’ owners have said she will be racing throughout this year, and most likely next year too. And that’s a good thing, because lots of people are looking forward to seeing more of the most famous three-year-old girl in the world.