Along The Rails

Why is it such a big deal for a filly to take on the Derby? Is it equine sexism, the colts snickering amongst themselves that the little girls can’t run?

Only if Mother Nature is the self-loathing sort. Of the many theories why the young ladies of the racing world don’t enter the gate at Triple Crown time, the backbone of my favorite one states that young male and female horses develop at different rates. Right at springtime in the three-year-old year, just at the highest pitch of the highest honors in American racing, the boys are, unlike humans, developing faster than the girls. So in people terms, the boy horses are putting away their whoopie cushions and trying on cologne as the fillies continue to clop down the pink aisle at Toys R Us. That’s why it takes an especially special filly to hold her own on the first Saturday in May.

Don’t worry… the girls catch up in the fall. By the time those colts and fillies are horses and mares, they’re running evenly, with little daylight between their development.  You go, girls.

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