Is Rachel Alexandra the Dark Horse to Upstage the Kentucky Derby?

Could a horse with a name that sounds like a heroine in a Victorian

Romance Novel completely upstage the Kentucky Derby Winner no

matter how good he does or how well the race itself turn out.

This filly certainly impressed four-time winner of the Kentucky Oaks,

Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas. He happens to have three-eighths

of the field for today's 135th running. He figures that just might be

enough horsepower to hold off heavily favored Rachel Alexandra.

"I'm going to put Be Fair over there by the (track) kitchen, I'm going

to put Tweeter right here (at the backstretch gap), and we're going

to tag around and keep barreling so we can hold off that monster,"

Lukas said, failing to include his third starter (Stone Legacy) in the

scheme. (See Rachel Alexandra a big Oaks favorite).

Monster, freak of all freaks, unbelievable, and tremendous are only

a few terms used to describe this high performance wonder. Word has

it that they held off running her in the derby because of concern that

the male horses competing in that event might intimidate her. However,

I agree with her jockey that she would probably win by her usual huge

margin.