May 8, 1915: The 1st Filly to Win the Kentucky Derby

May 8, 1915: The Kentucky Derby is run at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. The race is won by Regret, in 2 minutes, 5.4 seconds. Pebbles finishes 2nd, and Sharpshooter is 3rd, both 2 lengths behind. Regret thus became the 1st filly to win the Derby. 

While the Kentucky Oaks, usually run the day before the Derby, is considered the 1st leg of the Triple Crown for 3-year-old female horses in America, fillies are eligible to run with the colts in the Derby. They are usually given one concession: Male horses carry 126 pounds -- their jockeys, plus enough additional weight to get to 126 -- while female horses carry 121.

Traditionally, as with humans, female horses aren't as big, as strong, or as fast as male horses. Regret, ridden by Joe Notter, trained by James G. Rowe, and owned by Harry Payne Whitney of the fabulously wealthy Whitney family, won 3 stakes races at Saratoga as a 2-year-old. The Derby was her 1st race as a 3-year-old, so she was the 1st undefeated horse to win the Derby in its 40-year history to that point.

Whitney did not, however, run her in the Preakness Stakes. Oddly, that race was also won by a filly: Rhine Maiden, who had not run in the Kentucky Derby. Neither horse ran in the Belmont Stakes, which was won by The Finn. At the time, winning all 3 races not only had never been done, but had hardly even been tried, given how close together they then were. Even after Sir Barton became the 1st horse to win all 3, in 1919, it was several more years before the Triple Crown was considered a big deal.

Regret lived until 1934. Rowe died in 1929, Whitney in 1930, Notter in 1973.

Only 2 more fillies have won the Kentucky Derby: Genuine Risk in 1980, and Winning Colors in 1988. Only 3 have won the Belmont. Oddly enough, the 1st winner, in 1867, was a filly, Ruthless. Tanya won in 1905, and Rags to Riches in 2007.

There have been 6 fillies to win the Preakness, as many as the Derby and the Belmont combined: Flocarline in 1903, Whimsical in 1906, the aforementioned Rhine Maiden in 1915, Nellie Morse in 1924, Rachel Alexandra in 2009, and Swiss Skydiver in 2020.

The most celebrated filly in American thoroughbred racing history, Ruffian, was not entered in any of the male Triple Crown races.

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May 8, 1915 was a Saturday. These baseball games were played that day in the American League:

* The New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox, 10-3 at the Polo Grounds. The not-yet-Bronx Bombers scored all 10 runs in the 5th inning. Babe Ruth was available for the Red Sox, but did not play.

* The Philadelphia Athletics beat the Washington Senators, 5-3 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Cleveland Indians, 10-5 at League Park in Cleveland. Eddie Collins went 0-for-3 with a walk. "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, soon to be be traded to the White Sox, went 2-for-4 with a walk and 2 RBIs.

* The St. Louis Browns beat the Detroit Tigers, 6-4 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. Ty Cobb went 1-for-4.

In the National League:

* The New York Giants lost to the Boston Braves, 4-3 at Fenway Park in Boston. The Braves were groundsharing with the Red Sox while waiting for their new Braves Field to open, later in the year. The Giants scored a run in the top of the 11th, but the Braves scored 2 in the bottom of the 11th, the winning run on a wild pitch by Alexander "Rube" Schauer, who had relieved Richard "Rube" Marquard.

* The Brooklyn Robins (as the Dodgers were known while Wilbert Robinson managed them from 1914 to 1931) beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 3-2 at Ebbets Field.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 3-2 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Honus Wagner went 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI.

* And the Chicago Cubs and the Cincinnati Reds were rained out at the West Side Grounds in Chicago. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on September 28. The Cubs swept, 7-3 and 5-0. Brad Hogg pitched a 7-hit shutout in the 2nd game.

And in the Federal League:

* The Brooklyn Tip-Tops lost to the Kansas City Packers, 8-5 at Washington Park in Brooklyn.

* The Newark Peppers beat the Chicago Whales, 2-0 at Harrison Park in Harrison, New Jersey, across the Passaic River from Newark. Earl Moseley pitched a 5-hit shutout.

* The Pittsburgh Rebels beat the Baltimore Terrapins, 4-2 in 10 innings at Terrapin Park in Baltimore.

* And a doubleheader was split at Federal League Park in Buffalo. The St. Louis Terriers won the opener, 6-5. The Buffalo Blues won the nightcap, 4-2.