Jess Jackson won the 2007 Preakness with eventual two-time Horse of the Year Curlin. He purchased a majority interest in the colt from Midnight Cry Stable after he put in an enormously impressive debut at Gulfstream Park.

Rachel Alexandra’s purchase is reminiscent of that of Curlin, who narrowly missed winning a second classic when he was headed by a filly, Rags to Riches, in the Belmont Stakes. He previously had been beaten by the Calvin Borel-ridden Street Sense in the Kentucky Derby.

The N.Y. Times said the purchase price for Rachel Alexandra was between $3 and $4 million. Jess Jackson, a former lawyer, is the founder of Kendall-Jackson wines. A native of Los Angeles who was raised in San Francisco, Jackson raced horses in partnership with his uncle in the ‘60s and came into the game in a big way after retirement at the turn of the century, highlighted by his purchase of 95 horses for $22 million at the Keeneland November breeding stock sale and the procurement of Kentucky and Florida land formerly owned and operated by Buckram Oak and Adena Springs.

McCormick, like Rachel Alexandra’s breeder and former co-owner Dolphus Morrison, is from Birmingham, Ala. Rachel Alexandra had won seven of 10 races for Morrison, President of SMI Steel in Birmingham, and Mike Lauffer.