The Kentucky Oaks is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred fillies staged annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. The race currently covers 1+1⁄8 miles (1,800 m) at Churchill Downs; the horses carry 121 pounds (55 kg). The Kentucky Oaks is held on the Friday before the Kentucky Derby each year. The winner gets $846,300 of the $1,500,000 purse, and a large garland blanket of lilies, resulting in the nickname "Lillies for the Fillies." A silver Kentucky Oaks Trophy is presented to the winner.
George Edward Arcaro was an American Thoroughbred horse racing Hall of Fame jockey who won more American classic races than any other jockey in history and is the only rider to have won the U.S. Triple Crown twice. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest jockeys in the history of American Thoroughbred horse racing. Arcaro was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, the son of an impoverished taxi driver. His parents, Pasquale and Josephine, were Italian immigrants and his father held a number of jobs, including taxi driver and operator of an illegal liquor enterprise during Prohibition. Arcaro was born prematurely, and weighed just three pounds at birth; because of this, he was smaller than his classmates and was rejected when he tried out for a spot on a baseball team. His full height would reach just five-foot, two inches. Eventually nicknamed "Banana Nose" by his confreres, Arcaro won his first race in 1932 at the Agua Caliente racetrack in Tijuana, Mexico; he was 16 years old. In 1934, the inaugural year of Narragansett Park, Arcaro was a comparative unknown who rode many of his early career races at 'Gansett.
Middleground was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 1950 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes and came second in the Preakness Stakes. He was named the 1950 American Horse of the Year and Champion Three-Year-Old Male.
Whirlaway was a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who is the fifth winner of the American Triple Crown. He also won the Travers Stakes after his Triple Crown sweep to become the first and only horse to win all four races.
James A. McLaughlin was an American National Champion jockey in Thoroughbred racing and a Hall of Fame inductee.
The George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award has been presented by Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California, annually since 1950 to the thoroughbred horse racing jockey in North America who demonstrates high standards of personal and professional conduct both on and off the racetrack.
The Big Sport of Turfdom Award has been given annually by the Turf Publicists of America since 1966 to a person or group who enhances coverage of Thoroughbred racing through cooperation with the media and Thoroughbred racing publicists.
The Delaware Oaks Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually in mid July at Delaware Park Racetrack in Stanton near Wilmington, Delaware.
Lawrin was an American thoroughbred racehorse owned by Herbert M. Woolf who won the 1938 Kentucky Derby. He was the son of Insco. He is the only Kansas-bred winner of the Kentucky Derby and the first Kentucky Derby winner ridden by the great jockey Eddie Arcaro. Lawrin died in 1955 and was buried next to his sire, Insco, on Woolford Farm in what would become Prairie Village, Kansas. One can still visit his grave in the cul-de-sac at 59 Le Mans Court, Prairie Village, just northwest of Mission Road & Somerset.
Albert Snider was a jockey in Thoroughbred racing who had success in his native Canada as well as the United States.
Walter Blum was an American jockey who won 4,382 races in a 22-year career. Blum received the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award for being the best jockey of 1964. He won the 1971 Belmont Stakes as the jockey of 34-1 long shot Pass Catcher, which prevented Canonero II from winning the Triple Crown. He was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1986, and the following year into the United States Racing Hall of Fame.
Wayne Danforth Wright was an American Hall of Fame and National Champion Thoroughbred horse racing jockey who won all three of the Triple Crown races in different years.
The East View Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, New York. It is restricted to fillies bred in the State of New York. Run in December, the race is contested on dirt over a distance of 1+1⁄16 miles.
Earl "Sandy" Graham was an American jockey in Thoroughbred horse racing who died as a result of a racing accident.
Douglas Allan Dodson was a Champion jockey in American Thoroughbred horse racing.
Ruperto Donoso was a jockey in the sport of Thoroughbred horse racing best known for riding Phalanx to victory in the 1947 Belmont Stakes. He also rode Gilded Knight to a second-place finish in the 1939 Preakness Stakes.
Harry Clayton Richards was an American Thoroughbred horse racing jockey and the first president of the Jockeys' Guild. Hall of Fame jockey Eddie Arcaro said Richards: "was strong in character and who maintained a steady belief in our organization [Jockeys' Guild]. Incidentally, he was one of the greatest riders of my time, the first switch-hitter in our business and the one from whom I copied switch-hitting."
Raymond "Sonny" Workman was an American National Champion and Hall of Fame jockey in Thoroughbred horse racing. During his fifteen years as a professional rider from 1926 through 1940, he won an exceptional twenty percent of his starts.
Thomas Jefferson Luther was an American Thoroughbred horse racing jockey.
Samuel William Renick was an American jockey during the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. He was a founder of the Jockeys' Guild. After his career ended, Renick became one of television's first racing announcers.
