More blogging women

In a recent discussion about women and racing, Green but Game listed a number of female TBA bloggers -- and apparently, our little alliance is not an aberration: blogs by women are turning up at non-TBA sites as well. Of course, the excellent Galloping Out by Maryjean Wall has been around awhile, but the exuberant RaceHorseGirl started up in March, while Becky at BlackTypeBlog has been tracking her Derby hopefuls since February.

And this week, the Courier-Journal launched The Jockey's Eye, authored by former jockey Kris Prather, who's currently offering up her take on the scene at Churchill Downs. While Prather's a big Pyro fan, I found her comments on another contender pretty interesting:

Cameras clicked and flashed as they followed Colonel John and as my eyes gravitated to the stately looking colt I could see what all the "ooh-ing" and "ah-ing" was about. He was impressive to look at and as he stood with his head erect as though gazing out over his subjects, an irritated snort drew me around. It came from none other than the proud filly Eight Belles. She stood, tossing her head and stamped her foot, as if to say, "it is a man's world" before being ridden off to get down to business. --The Jockey's Eye

Since retiring from racing in 2004, Prather has turned to writing books and is working on a young adult series about a female jockey. Here's hoping that Prather's The Horse Tamer's Niece will offer girls a view of racing that can compete with Alec Ramsey and his Black Stallion.

By the way, in Tuesday's post, Prather pointed out one of those crazy, historical precedence things that just capture our collective imagination at Derby time:

• 1979: LeRoy Jolley's entry, General Assembly, runs 2nd in the Derby.
• 1980: Jolley's entry, the filly Genuine Risk, wins the Derby.
• 2007: Larry Jones' entry, Hard Spun, runs 2nd in the Derby.
• 2008: Jones' entry, the filly Eight Belles, .....