Filly Genuine Risk Won 1980 Run For The Roses

Regret and Winning Colors Only Other Females to Win Kentucky Derby

Apr 7, 2009 BarbaraAnne Helberg

Thirty-nine fillies have entered the Kentucky Derby in its 134 runnings. The first to win was Regret in 1915. Genuine Risk scored in 1980. Winning Colors won in 1988.

How many Thoroughbreds finish on the board in all three American Triple Crown races? It's not a common occurrence. As there are only eleven Thoroughbreds (all colts) in the history of horse racing who managed to stay through that three-race schedule to actually win all three events, it is easy to understand the degree of difficulty in finishing first, or place (second), or show (third) in all three contests, which are exclusively open to three-year-olds.

One filly successfully pursued that outstanding accomplishment, piloted by jockey Jacinto Vasquez.

Genuine Risk On the Board in Every Triple Crown Race

Genuine Risk ran the Triple Crown gauntlet in 1980. Her trainer, LeRoy Jolley, entered her in the Kentucky Derby without fanfare. The young female had already run against boys in the Wood Memorial, a Derby prep race, and finished third.

Genuine Risk won the Kentucky Derby with a length to spare, beating Rumbo. Her Preakness was a controversial place finish, as the winner, Codex, forced her wide coming into the stretch. She drifted back 4-3/4 lengths, but held onto second. In an unpleasant, muddy Belmont Stakes, the filly went second again, unable to contain the upset-minded Temperence Hill.

Just two fillies other than Genuine Risk have placed in the Kentucky Derby. Lady Navarre turned the trick in 1906. Tragedy accompanied the feat in 2008 when Eight Belles chased the season's eventual champion three-year-old male, Big Brown, to the wire, then collapsed and died on the track.

Regret's Win Raises Kentucky Derby's Status

The first female Thoroughbred to win the Kentucky Derby was Regret in 1915. Prior to Regret's score, the Derby had existed as a regional competition. Grandiose Eastern Thoroughbred owners viewed the race as a low class shipping trauma to be avoided.

Colonel Matt Winn, a Louisville tailor fond of the racing atmosphere, undertook the rejuvenation of the Derby racetrack named Churchill Downs, and after Regret's win there he combined the filly's exclusive feat with his own marketing skills to boost the Kentucky Derby to lasting national prominence.

Today's Kentucky Derby Is America's Presitigous Race

Today, entering the Kentucky Derby is regarded as the pinnacle of a three-year-old colt's career. If he wins, he is a champion for life and beyond.

Imagine the greater buzz for a filly champion. Winning Colors became that buzz in 1988.

Winning Colors' saddle-mate was jockey Gary Stevens. Her win with him catapulted his career onto a path to the Hall of Fame. The talented filly's trainer was D.Wayne Lukas, also bound for the Hall of Fame. Her Derby triumph was Lukas' first of four victories in the Run for the Roses.

One of the colts Winning Colors conquered in the Derby was a rising son of 1973 Triple Crown champion Secretariat. Risen Star went on to win the Preakness and the Belmont and become 1988's three-year-old male champion. Forty-Niner, 1987's voted two-year-old male champion, also opposed the filly in the Derby. Seeking the Gold was in the line-up, as well. His progeny continue today to star on the racetracks of the world.

Winning Colors and Genuine Risk both earned champion female three-year-old Eclipse awards in their Kentucky Derby-win seasons.

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