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#Soundbites - Do three-year-old fillies deserve better treatment in the Triple Crown series?

Compiled by Bill Heller

Since 2013, when the Kentucky Derby began using a point system to determine who starts in the Run for the Roses, no filly has raced in the Derby. This year, only seven of the 373 three-year-olds nominated for the Triple Crown were fillies. Do three-year-old fillies deserve better treatment, either by making Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks points interchangeable and/or by making a more meaningful and permanent filly Triple Crown? 

Bret Calhoun
I think the only way they can get points is one of the prep races against the males. Honestly, I think it’s a fair enough system. In my mind, if they’re going to take them on in the Derby, they probably should have to be proven against some of them in their prep races.

Kevin Attard

I do think they should have the option to run in the Oaks or take on the boys. Obviously, it takes a very special filly to win that race. Having a Triple Crown for the fillies I think is a wonderful idea. A series for the fillies would be something of significance. In today’s age of social media, you can reach out to a broader audience. In Canada, they do have the Triple Tiara. It’s not the equivalent to the colts. It doesn’t get the attention of the real Triple Crown.

Ron Moquett

I would say make a more permanent and meaningful Filly Triple Crown. Or there could be a deal where you could give up your status as a filly and only run in the Derby preps to get your own points and make yourselves eligible for the Kentucky Derby. That’s fine. That’s good because you did it against the competition that you are required to meet. You can’t get Derby points by beating fillies to run against colts. But I think we should constantly be looking at things to evolve the sport and keep moving forward. In the end, you’ve got to remember the whole thing we’re trying to do is to breed a better horse. So every decision we make sincerely should be about showcasing the best of our breed.

Neil Drysdale

Interchangeable points don’t work because you can’t run colts against fillies, but I think fillies should be running in the Triple Crown, especially looking back in history. The point is if you’ve got a filly and you want to run a mile and a quarter (the Derby distance) instead of a mile and an eighth (the Oaks distance), you should be allowed to do that. My own opinion is that the point system seems to be quite arbitrary. The point system needs to be continually revised until they get it right.

Todd Fincher

Well, as long as they’re not transgender it’s okay (long laugh). I don’t think it’s against the fillies. If they want to run in the Derby, they just have to face the boys in the preps. The filly races are pretty lucrative. There’s so much money not only in the purses, but in winning a Grade 1 with a filly. So unless you think you’re a real monster, you just stay in your lane. If you think your filly is good enough, well, run with the boys.   

Peter Eurton

Wow, that is a good question, because I’ve never really even thought about it. For me, I would think that they should have an opportunity, but then it’s going to keep out some of the colts. That would be the biggest issue.

Richard Mandella

The Oaks is a big purse, and it’s at a very high level. You kind of hate to have too many fillies in the Derby. Maybe there could be a committee, people from Kentucky, California, New York and two other places, that allows starters to get in the Derby as a special case.

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Sharon Alesia, Bran Jam Stable and Ciaglia Racing LLC

Sharon Alesia, who was first married to musician and recording industry executive Herb Alpert, was introduced to horse racing by her late second husband, Frank Alesia, an actor and television director from Chicago whose dad, raced Thoroughbreds with trainer Steve Ippolito. Ippolito’s stepson, Peter Eurton, would become the Alesias’ trainer after Sharon bought a Thoroughbred for Frank to celebrate their first wedding anniversary in June, 1984. That horse never raced, but Sharon and Frank have been in racing ever since.

Frank, who moved to Los Angeles in 1964, appeared in the beach party films “Pajama Party,” “Bikini Beach” and “Beach Blanket Bingo” and in television shows including “The Flying Nun,” “The Odd Couple,” “Gomer Pyle,” “That Girl,” “Room 222” and “Laverne & Shirley.” Turning to directing, he received a daytime Emmy nomination for “Captain Kangaroo.”

After Frank passed away in 2011, Sharon and her partners - Ciaglia Racing (Joe Ciaglia), Bran Jam Stable (Mike Mellen), Rob Dyrdek and Nick Cosato - named the two-year-old filly they purchased for $175,000 at the Ocala Breeders’ Two-Year-Olds in Training Sale Weemissfrankie to honor Sharon’s husband. Weemissfrankie then won the Grade I Del Mar Debutante and the Grade 1 Oak Leaf Stakes before finishing third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Filly. After she suffered a non-displaced condylar fracture while finishing fourth in the Grade I Hollywood Starlet Stakes, she was sold and is now a broodmare in Japan.

Joe Ciaglia Jr., now 50, worked at Ralph’s Grocery in Arcadia, Calif., as a teen-ager and he and a buddy there, Brad Free, went to Santa Anita to catch races after their shifts were done. Free became a columnist for the Daily Racing Form, and Ciaglia became one of the top designers of action sports facilities in the world, several of which have been featured in the X Games, which includes skateboarding, motorcross and snowboarding, and is televised annually by ESPN. Ciaglia has three companies: California Skateparks, California Landscape & Design and California Rampworks, which manages events. California Skateparks has built nearly 200 projects in 40 states, including ones for world champion skateboarder Tony Hawk and two-time snowboarder and skateboarder Olympic gold medalist Shawn White.

Ciaglia’s wife, Stephanie, who was good friends with trainer Peter Eurton’s wife, Julie, introduced Ciaglia to Frank Alasia, and Ciaglia became an owner in 1999 when he claimed Ask Crafty for $25,000. The horse was claimed in his first start for his new owner. Then Ciaglia went into partnership with Frank and Sharon Alasia and Mike Mellen’s Bran Jam Stable and claimed Cee Dreams, who went on to take the $150,000 California Cup Matron Handicap and retired with 11 victories from 40 starts and earnings of $433,318.   

Mike Mellen, the patriarch of Bran Jam Stables, has had an incredible impact in Thoroughbred racing through his daughter Dawn, who founded and is the president of After the Finish Line, a 501 (C3)  charity which has been helping fund Thoroughbred rescue operations around the country for 6 ½ years. She said, “There’s a purpose for every horse out there. The greatest victory for a Thoroughbred is not winning a race, but winning the race to live long past their days on the racetrack.”

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