Fillies in the Triple Crown races are a relative rarity in the twenty-first century. Since 2000, only a handful of fillies have even entered the races: Devil May Care (2010) in the Kentucky Derby; Rachel Alexandra (2009), Ria Antonia (2014), Swiss Skydiver (2020), and Secret Oath (2022) in the Preakness; and Rags to Riches (2007) and Unlimited Budget (2017) in the Belmont Stakes.
There are several reasons for this rarity. Since 2013, the points system enacted to qualify horses for entry into the Kentucky Derby has meant that a filly must have run well in at least one prep race against males, which makes them less likely to attempt the Derby at all, particularly when the Kentucky Oaks is lucrative, prestigious, and easier to attain.
Fillies are more likely to enter the Preakness, but it is by no means common. The Grade II Black-Eyed Susan Stakes for three-year-old fillies is run the day before the Preakness, and many top fillies either opt for that or choose to train up to the Triple Tiara races that come up in New York during the summer: the Grade I Acorn Stakes, the Grade I Coaching Club American Oaks, and the Grade I Alabama Stakes.
Then there is the Belmont Stakes. The Run for the Carnations. The Test of the Champion. The only grade I stakes race on the dirt that reaches one and one-half miles. The race happens on June 11th 2022, you can check the odds here: twinspires.com/belmont-stakes/odds
Can a filly win the Belmont Stakes? The short answer is: yes. They’ve done it three times.
Ruthless (1867)
Ruthless took the inaugural running of the Belmont Stakes, but the race was much different then. Instead of being run at one and one-half miles, it was a full furlong longer, and it was run at Jerome Park instead of the as-yet-nonexistent Belmont Park. The daughter of Eclipse and Barbarity (whose five stakes-winning daughters, all full sisters including Ruthless, became known collectively as “The Barbarous Battalion”) had won the Nursery Stakes against males as a juvenile and had recently finished second in the Jersey Derby at one and one-half miles.
The field for the first Belmont Stakes was small: only four horses competed. Ruthless won by a short neck over Monday, the colt who had beaten her in the Jersey Derby. Ruthless later went on to win against males again in the Travers Stakes, then run at one and three-fourths miles, and retired with a record of seven wins and four seconds in her eleven-race career.
Tanya (1905)
The first Belmont Stakes run at Belmont Park belonged to the filly Tanya, a daughter of Meddler out of the mare Handspun. That year, the race was held at one and one-fourth miles, and was, like all Belmont Park races at the time, run in a clockwise direction in order to more closely resemble European tracks.
Much of Tanya’s career has sadly been lost to time; however, it is known that in addition to the Belmont Stakes, she won the historic Hopeful Stakes and the National Stallion Stakes against males as a two-year-old, in addition to the Spinaway Stakes against her own sex. After the Belmont, she finished second to the great Sysonby in the prestigious Lawrence Realization Stakes.
Rags to Riches (2007)
Rags to Riches, a daughter of Belmont Stakes winner A.P. Indy and Kentucky Broodmare Of The Year Better Than Honour, lost her only start as a two-year-old but roared to life at age three. She rattled off victories in the Grade I Las Virgenes Stakes, the Grade I Santa Anita Oaks, and the Kentucky Oaks, all against females. She was so dominant against the other fillies that trainer Todd Pletcher elected to start her in the Belmont Stakes, a race that, in 2006, her half-brother Jazil had won.
Critics pointed out that it had been over a century since Tanya’s win (conveniently leaving out that very few fillies had attempted the Belmont Stakes more recently) and that Tanya’s race had been at a shorter distance (ignoring Ruthless’s win at a longer distance), and that a filly had never won a Triple Crown race without previously running well against males.
To make matters worse, Rags to Riches stumbled leaving the Belmont gate and went to her knees. She recovered her stride, however, and jockey John Velasquez kept the filly wide enough to avoid traffic problems. She took the lead at the quarter pole and repelled the challenge of Preakness winner Curlin, winning by a neck.
Rags to Riches’s career after the Belmont was a bit of an anticlimax. She was upset by Lear’s Princess in the Grade I Gazelle Stakes against fillies, and it was later discovered that she suffered a hairline fracture during the race. She never returned to the races and was officially retired in March of 2008.
Can a filly win the Belmont Stakes? Yes, but like any Belmont Stakes winner, she must have a solid foundation, be bred for stamina, and be one of the leading racehorses of her crop.
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