By Ray PaulickFor those of you who decided to disconnect from the racing world on Sunday let me just [...]…

But I it is not disingenuous to have a decided opinion that Zayat and Allen (and quite possibly Whitney) are poor sports trying to avoid a competitor they fear - and at the very least it is not their place to tell Jackson what to do with his filly. The public trial balloon they sent up Sunday popped rather loudly.

I can think of a few horses in the Preakness that truly don’t belong. See Gov, Luv. I also would suggest that you are stating that you want to see the classics restricted to male horses. That is not the condition and had not been since Regret won the Derby in 1915 in her first start of the year, so Rachel has every right to run, just as the maiden winner does.

Jackson hardly gets a free pass for his insufferable ego. But he is not a poor sport last time I checked and many fans do want to see Rachel run. I don’t buy that she is at more risk than the male horses although I do think she may be less of a horse for quite a while after the race. On that we agree.

As I see it, one owner bought a horse and wanted to enter it into a race, other owners discussed potentially blocking that move. Neither group was doing anything illegal, and from a truly objective point of view, neither had a moral upper hand. Everyone was quick to jump on Allen and Zayat without looking at the whole picture.

And with all do respect to the commentor, you cannot compare the Derby Trail and the races that RA ran prior to the Oaks (or to the Oaks themselves).

If you want to engage in a serious discussion regarding what is wrong with the sport and how to correct it, I am more than willing. But the hysteria and the hype over what was essentially an open discussion of strategy by some owners was disingenuous to say the least!

I will conclude with the thought that I, along with everyone else, would love to see RA run against POTN and MTB. At the same time, I harbor more than a little concern that it is not in RAs best interest and that her owners are subjecting her to great risk for the sake of their own ego. If you ask me, having a 3-year old filly run with boys is the immoral act, and if anyone is to be pilloried it should be Jess Jackson. I would be much happier seeing this race being run amongst 4-year olds.

Honestly, and I will stop at this, but I think I am more put off by the stupidity to advertise it, than the unsportsmanlike “thought” itself.

The thought police need to tone down your self righteous outrage, unless you’ve never even considered doing something that could gain you an advantage.

This is the first paragraph in C-J story link:

“The co-owner of Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird said this morning that it “was selfish” and “wrong” for him to consider running a maiden in Saturday’s Preakness Stakes in an effort to exclude Kentucky Oaks winner Rachel Alexandra.”

The guy wears a black hat for a reason…

Once again you use your mouse to stir it up. The picture on your website with the header “selfish and wrong” is totally misleading. You continue to amaze me with your biased opinions. Take the header off immediately. Only if they wore white hats huh Ray……