There was a controversy in the boys club that is American horseracing this week when it appeared that the guys were ganging up trying to keep a brilliant filly out of the Preakness. It’s about a rule that only lets 14 horses in the race and a system that values the awarding of those spots based on performances and earnings. Some trainers had backup mounts that qualified ahead of the sensational filly Rachel Alexandra. It looked like a bad case of boys against girls.

In recent horseracing history there have been three girls of notoriety who ran with the boys. Two died. The most famous of course, is Ruffian who match raced against 1975 Kentucky Derby winner Foolish Pleasure. Last year, Eight Belles came in second at the Kentucky Derby and shattered both ankles after crossing the finish line. In 2007, Rags to Riches won the Belmont. She’s fine.

In Saturday’s Preakness Rachel Alexandra is the favorite at 8-5. She has Derby winner Calvin Borel aboard and has to carry an extra five pounds. Borel’s winning ride in the Kentucky Derby, Mine That Bird, will now be ridden by Mike Smith, and goes off at 6-1.

Five other horses that ran in the Derby join the 13-horse field. Friesan Fire, owned by Vinery Stables and Fox Hill Farm and trained by Larry Jones, who also had the tragic Eight Belles, will also go off at 6-1. Bob Baffert’s Pinoneerof the Nile is again highly regarded at 5-1. Everyone’s favorite, General Quarters, owned by 75-year old everyman Tom McCarthy, is at 20-1, while Derby participants Musket Man (8-1) and D. Wayne Lukas’ Flying Private, at the same 50-1 odds given Mine That Bird in the Derby, are also set to run in Baltimore. Six other colts will run in their first triple crown event. Big Drama (10-1), Luv Guv, Lukas’ other 50-1 shot, Terrain (30-1), Papa Clem (12-1), Todd Pletcher’s Take The Points (30-1) and Tone It Down (50-1) round the field.

Rachel Alexandra is unbeaten in 2009 and has won her races by wide margins, 20 lengths in the recent Kentucky Oaks, and Borel says “she may be the best animal of either gender that I have ever ridden.” The trouble is that the boys are generally stronger, and when fillies compete with the cream of the crop of the colts, some theorize, that they tend to go beyond their physical capability to compete. They race with their hearts which some horsepeople claim to be inhumane, especially if they hurt themselves in the process.

So as many of the demonstration placards outside Pimlico on Saturday might be addressed to those cruel to animals, as they are to those cruel to women. Maybe with a little understanding of the story, there can be a limit on the use of the word misogyny.