Jess Jackson’s Rachel Alexandra may run in Preakness

The pendulum of horse-racing fortune took another swing to the positive Wednesday.

Four days after jockey Calvin Borel attracted international attention with his magical ride to win the Kentucky Derby on a 50-1 shot, an event that got a 10-plus network TV rating, Jess Jackson got back in the game.

The 79-year-old founder of Kendall-Jackson Winery, who owned and campaigned super horse Curlin until retiring him at the end of last year, purchased star filly Rachel Alexandra.

Jackson watched on television from home at his nearby Stonestreet Stables as Rachel Alexandra won Friday’s Kentucky Oaks race for top fillies by 20 1/4 lengths.

“He was excited to see that race,” said spokesperson Caroline Shaw, “and then when his family came home all excited from the race, he got more excited.”

Negotiations went smoothly and quickly, with bloodstock agent John Moynihan leading the way, as he did in the February 2007 purchase of Curlin after a similarly impressive win in Florida. Previous owners Dolphus Morrison and Mike Lauffer had said they had no intention of running her in of the remaining Triple Crown races, the May 16 Preakness or the June 6 Belmont.

Now, with the Preakness fewer than 10 days away, Jackson the new owner and Borel the jockey who rode Rachel Alexandra in the Oaks as well as Mine That Bird in the Derby, story lines are abundant.

Other questions: Will Jackson send his new acquisition from the barn of the current trainer, 66-year-old Hal Wiggins, to the barn of Curlin’s trainer, Steve Asmussen, among the most successful trainers in the business?

And how long will he race Rachel Alexandra when among his stated goals is to “breed her to Curlin after her racing career is over”?

Jackson is scheduled to see his multimillion-dollar purchase (no exact sales price was released) in person for the first time today. He said he will make decisions on trainer, jockey and next race quickly. Mine That Bird will enter the Preakness, but Borel, asked after the Derby about the possibility of Rachel Alexandra’s being entered in one of the Triple Crown races, said that given his choice, he would ride Rachel Alexandra.

That might be an excellent decision on several levels. It is unlikely that the jockeys in the Preakness will let him squeeze through on the rail as easily as he did Saturday and in the 2007 Derby aboard Street Sense. A stronger front-runner might serve him better.

With continued success throughout the summer, the talk of a Rachel Alexandra-Zenyatta matchup in the Nov. 6-7 Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita might begin. Or even a run at the boys in the $6-million Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Lots of buzz for a sport always looking for it.

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bill.dwyre@latimes.com