Derby 148 - Oaks Racing

The Longines Kentucky Oaks is America’s premier and most lucrative race for 3-year old fillies – female horses - held each year on the day before the Kentucky Derby. This feature race is a $1.25 Million Grade 1 stakes race and awards the winning filly a garland of lilies, appropriately named “lilies for the fillies.” Like the Kentucky Derby, the Longines Kentucky Oaks race is one of the longest continually held sporting events in American history, and one of the only horse races to take place at the original site of its inception. The race was established on May 19th, 1875, by the same founder of the Kentucky Derby, Colonel Meriwether Lewis Clark, and is modeled after the British Epsom Oaks. View the fillies in the Longines Kentucky Oaks.

Kentucky Oaks Charitable Initiative 

On Kentucky Oaks Day, Churchill Downs Racetrack is a vision in pink as more than 100,000 guests are asked to incorporate pink into their attire in an effort to drive national attention to the fight against breast and ovarian cancer. One of the most beloved traditions of this 14-year effort is the Survivors Parade - a march of breast and ovarian cancer survivors that takes place on the historic racetrack prior to the running of the Longines Kentucky Oaks. From 2020-2021, the parade was held in a virtual format due to COVID-19 social distancing protocols. We are pleased to have a return to the live parade in 2022 and hope you will join us in honoring the survivors selected in 2020 as they take their long-awaited trip around the track. 

The Kentucky Oaks charitable initiative has raised more than $1,000,000 for charity since its inception. As part of this year’s Kentucky Oaks charitable initiative, Churchill Downs has partnered with the Breast Health Program at Norton Cancer Institute and Horses & Hope to support their life changing efforts in the state of Kentucky.