Is the Kentucky Oaks part of the Triple Crown?

The Kentucky Oaks was made to be a rough equivalent of the Kentucky Derby for the girls, and is not part of the larger Triple Crown.

Held the day before the Kentucky Derby, the Kentucky Oaks is essentially the “sister race.” It is held over the slightly shorter distance of 1 1/8 miles and only open to fillies (or young female horses).

The Triple Crown, though most commonly contested only by males, is open to all three-year-old thoroughbreds. Fillies have, in fact, won each race multiple times. The filly that got closest to winning the whole thing was Genuine Risk. She won only the Derby, but actually ran in all three races, and came in second in both the Preakness and Belmont Stakes.

So no, the Kentucky Oaks is not part of the Triple Crown. It merely uses a name and its proximate time the Derby to be a fairly prominent race nationally.

However, there is a Triple Crown-like series of races just for fillies. This series is called, fittingly, the Triple Tiara and is held in New York, at the Belmont and Saratoga racetracks. Because it is not really a nationally recognized series, the races have changed over the years. Currently, the Triple Tiara consists of the Acorn Stakes, the Mother Goose and Coaching Club American Oaks.

There has been discussion in recent years of creating an official Filly Triple Crown to mirror the actual Triple Crown. The Oaks would be included in that series, but nothing official has happened yet. For now the Kentucky Oaks remains a big deal mainly because of its relationship to the Kentucky Derby.

Next: 20 short stories about the 2018 Kentucky Derby horses

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