Jess Jackson did the distaff division of thoroughbred racing a huge favor by racing his future champion Rachel Alexandra against the boys. The  wonderfully unintended consequence of his actions has been an uptick in owners and trainers running their fillies and mares against males.

A recent example was Tizfiz, a 5 year old Tiznow mare, taking the Edward J. Debartolo Sr. Memorial Handicap at Remington on September 7th.  At 9F on the turf, the race may not have featured horses the caliber of what Rachel Alexandra was facing, but  the connections had enolugh confidence to run her, and she made an impressive accounting of herself.  Let’s hope this is a portent of things to come. If fillies such as Zarkava and Goldikova could regularly conquer the open ranks in Europe, there’s no reason why stateside fillies can’t do likewise.