Horse Racing

Rachel Alexandra and Mine That Bird hardly had flashed under the wire in their stirring Preakness showdown, before Birdie's trainer Chip Woolley announced he was heading straight for the Belmont.



All the evidence indicates a horse needs a strong foundation of racing, preferably across two seasons, to withstand the hard demands of the Triple Crown chase. In that regard, no horses came to the Preakness as well equipped as Mine That Bird and Rachel Alexandra.

But at the Pimlico barns last week, D. Wayne Lukas, the legendary trainer, promoted again his long-held opinion that the distances and timing of the Triple Crown races need to be changed.