ESPN Horse Racing

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Sometimes the last word is the best word, and the last word on Indecision Day at soggy Churchill Downs on Monday morning came from Jess Jackson.

He already had watched his supreme filly Rachel Alexandra's first timed post-Preakness workout in a driving rain over a sloppy track. He had spoken to the media, declaring that no decision had yet been made on whether Rachel will contest the Belmont in a bid to become the first filly in history to win two legs of the Triple Crown. But before climbing into his black Escalade and leaving the racetrack, I caught up with the wine magnate once more.

Jackson sounded like a man who will probably let the Belmont pass Rachel by. He's just not quite ready to slam the door yet.

"What else does she have to prove?" Jackson said, referring to beating her 3-year-old competition of both sexes. He then added, "[The Preakness] was a gamble. We don't have to gamble anymore."

Despite those tip-the-hand comments, Jackson plans to wait another week and watch another workout next Monday before making a final call. And that's why what was expected to be Decision Day in thoroughbred racing for a number of interested parties turned into Indecision Day.

Rachel is still on hold. Which means jockey Calvin Borel is still on hold regarding his choice of a Belmont mount: the one he rode to victory in the Kentucky Derby (Mine That Bird) or the one he rode to victory in the Preakness (Rachel Alexandra). Which means Mark Allen and Chip Woolley, owner and trainer of Mine That Bird, are still on hold, having rescinded last week's ultimatum that Borel make a call by Monday. And whomever Allen and Woolley have lined up as their backup Belmont rider is still on hold as well.

The only thing that seems certain from Indecision Day is that the final leg of the Triple Crown will have some star power. The Belmont will not be contested without both Rachel Alexandra and Calvin Borel.

That doomsday scenario appears to have been bypassed, thanks to the latitude afforded Borel. If Allen and Woolley had stuck to their demand for an answer, he might have chosen the filly. And if the Rachel camp had subsequently opted to skip the race, we would've had no super filly and no jockey trying to complete the human Triple Crown.

We would've had a Belmont every bit as sexy as Stan Van Gundy in a thong.

That eyesore appears to be averted -- if indeed they make a call on Rachel within a week. Jackson said "it's up to her," meaning Rachel, to signal when and whether she's ready to contest another grueling race -- this one a mile-and-a-half meat grinder that would be her sixth in 15 weeks. So the vigil continues.

Men everywhere know the feeling of waiting on a female. But that doesn't make this particular wait any easier.

"We would like to have some closure on it for sure," Woolley said. "Everyone would. But that's the nature of the business when you have two horses vying for one rider."

The rider in the middle is Borel, who could not get any hotter if he were sunbathing on Mercury. In addition to winning the Kentucky Oaks by 20 lengths on May 1 aboard Rachel, the Derby on Mine That Bird at 51-1 the next day and the Preakness on May 16 aboard Rachel, Borel won the feature races Saturday and Sunday at Churchill and has hit the winner's circle in nine of his past 17 races heading into the Memorial Day card.

But even on the roll of his life, the sunny Cajun appeared a bit stressed out by the ongoing drama with his two prime 3-year-olds.

"I got no comment," he said apologetically when I asked whom he would ride in the Belmont.

"There will be no comment from Calvin or I all week long," said Borel's agent, Jerry Hissam.

Before that, Borel and Hissam met Monday with Jackson in trainer Steve Asmussen's barn office. Borel broadcast his allegiance by wearing a Rachel Alexandra hat into the barn but emerged without any answers.

Jackson's only answers for the media were: If Borel couldn't wait, the ride on Rachel would go to Robby Albarado -- his regular first-call rider; if Rachel does not run in the Belmont, she likely would be pointed to the Mother Goose Stakes, a filly race at Belmont on June 27; that Jackson would welcome a race at some point for Rachel against outstanding older mare Zenyatta; and that Rachel might ultimately contest the Breeders' Cup Classic in the fall against the boys instead of the Ladies' Classic.

The Classic could be the next (and potentially last) great gamble with this filly before she proceeds to the breeding shed to get acquainted with Jackson's two-time Horse of the Year, Curlin. But all that is well down the road. The focus Monday was the Belmont.

After meeting with Jackson, Borel drove his Ford pickup across the backside to Mine That Bird's barn. (Hissam followed in a bright blue Cadillac with a license plate that read, "Drby133," in reference to Borel's victory aboard Street Sense in Kentucky Derby 133 two years ago.) Borel spent a good while sitting in his truck on the phone, then he and Hissam met with Woolley. After they came out, Borel cupped a cigarette in his left hand and looked tense until they put the saddle on Mine That Bird.

Then he hopped on the gritty gelding, gave him seven sharply affectionate slaps on the neck, and off they went to the track. Borel guided Mine That Bird through a four-furlong work across the sloppy Churchill dirt in 51 seconds, pronouncing the Bird "like his old self."

After that, it was up to Woolley to announce that the lack of news out of Jackson necessitated a lack of news out of his barn.

"We're going to hold off naming a rider for a few more days, out of respect for Calvin and them," Woolley said. "We're going to give them a little more time."

Despite the lack of resolution, all sides actually came out of the morning looking better than they went in.

Jackson appears inclined to subjugate his competitiveness in favor of what's best for his filly. If Rachel Alexandra does not run, it will be a letdown for fans of the sport but probably the wise decision. She was, by several accounts, knocked out by her Preakness victory, and some in the barn believe she needs the rest. As Jackson said, she proved herself plenty in Baltimore.

Borel and Hissam showed their ability to ride out a rough spot. Caught between horses and facing a deadline, they didn't panic and didn't alienate either side. Instead, they bought more time.

And the Mine That Bird camp also showed some horse sense. It knows Borel is the ideal fit for its horse's running style. It knows that no decision absolutely, positively had to be made now for a race June 6. And it knows there's a good chance it'll get its man if it just sits chilly a little longer.

"I want to give [Borel] the opportunity to win [the Triple Crown]," Woolley said. "I mean, he won me a Derby."

The Calvin Crown remains in play. But after Indecision Day, we still don't know which animal's back he'll be on.

Pat Forde is a senior writer for ESPN.com.