Filly fanatics will turn out to watch ‘Rachel’ at Woodward

It has been several decades since a female horse has run like this one has this year. Rachel Alexandra, a 3-year-old bay filly named after the original owner’s granddaughter, has beaten the girls her own age by laughable margins. She beat the boys in the Preakness Stakes, the middle jewel in the Triple Crown. This afternoon, she’s up against older guys for the first time, bidding to become the first filly to win the Woodward Stakes at this 19th-century racecourse known as the “Graveyard of Champions.’’

“We want to prove that she’s a great horse, one for the history books,’’ Barbara Banke, wife of owner Jess Jackson, declared at this week’s draw for the eight-horse field for the 56th running of the race, which covers 1 1/8 miles. “This is part of the history-making campaign.’’

Not since Smarty Jones, the working-class hero from Philadelphia who won the first two legs of the Triple Crown in 2004, has a horse captured the public imagination the way Rachel Alexandra has. She already has been featured in a photo layout in Vogue. Kendall-Jackson Winery, co-owned by Jackson and Banke, is producing a limited-edition holiday wine with her image on the bottle. When she ran against other fillies in the Mother Goose Stakes at Belmont Park, women were admitted free. To attract a challenging field, the Woodward purse was jacked up from $500,000 to $750,000.

Rachel Alexandra, who has won eight straight races and is a prohibitive 1-2 favorite today, has arrived at a time when the sport is desperate for a star and a story. Horse racing hasn’t had a Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978, and Smarty Jones was beaten in the Belmont by a long shot whose owner apologized for ruining a fairy tale.

What makes Rachel Alexandra special is her rare blend of speed and star power, and Stonestreet Stables’ eagerness to have her break new ground. The filly could have run against other 3-year-olds here in last weekend’s Travers Stakes, where the purse was $1 million, but she already had soundly beaten Summer Bird, the Belmont winner, in the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park.

“If the financial considerations were the primary thing, we would have gone to the Travers,’’ said Jackson, who with Harold McCormick reportedly bought Rachel Alexandra for as much as $10 million after she won the Kentucky Oaks against other fillies by a record margin of more than 20 lengths. “We look to the race, we look to the horse, and we look to the legacy of the horse.’’

The list of Woodward winners includes some of the greatest names in the sport - Affirmed, Seattle Slew, Spectacular Bid, Kelso, Forego, Alysheba, Cigar, and most recently Curlin. None of them, though, was a filly, and only a handful of females have ever been entered. Not since 1887, when Lady Primrose won the Manhattan, has a 3-year-old filly defeated older males in any Grade I dirt race in New York.

If Rachel Alexandra does it today, she likely will be the first filly who has beaten colts to be named Horse of the Year since Lady’s Secret in 1986. “It’s an extremely tall order,’’ trainer Steve Asmussen conceded. “No filly has ever done it for a reason.’’

Her seven challengers all are proven stakes winners, most notably Da’Tara, who wrecked Big Brown’s Triple Crown bid at last year’s Belmont, Whitney Handicap victor Bullsbay, and Past the Point, who finished second here to Curlin last year as a 40-1 shot. “There are some pretty nice horses in the race,’’ said famed trainer Nick Zito, who is running Da’Tara and Cool Coal Man today. “But she’s the story, and rightfully so.’’

A month later, she won the Mother Goose by more than 19 lengths and probably would have broken the great Secretariat’s track record if she hadn’t been eased in the stretch. Then last month she became only the second filly to win the Haskell, beating Summer Bird by 6 lengths in the slop. Not since the ill-starred Ruffian in 1975, who broke a foreleg during a match race with Foolish Pleasure and was euthanized after surgery, has there been a filly who sent so many people thumbing through the record books and lining the rail to watch her.

When Rachel Alexandra was schooled Thursday, nearly prancing while she was being walked, hundreds of onlookers surrounded the paddock while a dozen photographers chased after her. She might easily have been on a fashion runway in Bryant Park. “She loves it,’’ said Borel. “She thrives on it.’’

There is a dainty ferocity to Rachel Alexandra and a frothy happiness that belies her killer mood once the gates open. The track doesn’t matter. “She’ll run on ice, on broken glass, anywhere,’’ said Borel. The pace doesn’t matter. She’ll go to the front, come from behind, drive through the leaders. “She just keeps going, man,’’ said her jockey. “She’s like the Energizer bunny.’’

Yet, as horsemen point out, Rachel Alexandra is still a filly and she’s still a 3-year-old. None of her rivals here is, which is why she’ll carry 8 fewer pounds than the standard 126. “It’s tough,’’ acknowledged Borel. “We’re stepping up to the plate. We’re just going to put them in the gates and see what happens.’’

The oddsmakers say that the filly wins easily. Bullsbay, the second choice, is 6-1. But Smarty Jones was a 1-5 favorite in the Belmont and was nearly 4 lengths ahead in the stretch before Birdstone, a 36-1 shot, ran him down. In this sport, there is no such thing as a sure bet once the bell rings. “You gotta run,’’ said Zito, who was Birdstone’s trainer. “Like the famous guy told me once, if you don’t run, you can’t even lose.’’

Her handlers also have been prudent in picking their spots. They paid a $100,000 supplemental fee to get Rachel Alexandra into the Preakness, then skipped the Belmont to give her a vacation. They bypassed the Travers to enter the Woodward. The next race likely will be next month’s Beldame Stakes at Belmont Park, where Rachel Alexandra would take on Zenyatta, the unbeaten West Coast filly who has never raced against colts, for a $1 million purse.

Texas furniture tycoon James “Mattress Mack’’ McIngvale already has offered $2 million for a match race between the two at Sam Houston Race Park, but Zenyatta’s owners declined. “If Zenyatta were to come to the Beldame,’’ mused Jackson, “that would certainly direct us toward that.’’

If not, Rachel Alexandra might just be shut down for the season. The Breeders’ Cup in November at Santa Anita is a non-starter because Stonestreet doesn’t want her to run on an artificial surface. Next year, on Churchill Downs’s dirt, will be a different story. “We hope to race her next year,’’ said Banke. “Part of our strategy this year is to keep her sound and happy.’’

Like the society dames before her, Rachel Alexandra has enjoyed her summer in this restful town where visitors have flocked since the Civil War to take baths both in the mineral waters and at the betting windows. “Saratoga is just beautiful this time of year,’’ Asmussen observed yesterday morning, standing in the shade next to the workout track while Rachel Alexandra calmly nibbled at a midmorning snack. “The quiet, the trees along the back side.’’

The quiet will give way to hubbub once the track opens at 7 this morning and the crowd arrives for an advanced Saturday seminar in equine gender studies. Not since Scarlett O’Hara has a Southern belle had to outrun so many older male pursuers, but few are betting against her. See Rachel Run, the signs say. “She looks so good right now, it’s unbelievable,’’ said Borel. “I’m not saying everything will go right, but now’s the time. She can make history.’’

John Powers can be reached at jpowers@globe.com.