Who was the first female jockey to win a Triple Crown in the US?

In the United States, the three races that constitute the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, or Triple Crown for short – that is, the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes – were inaugurated in 1875, 1873 and 1867, respectively. However, while the Triple Crown has effectively been in existence since 1875, it was not commonly called by that name until Gallant Fox, in 1930, became the second three-year-old to win all three races.

Anyway, the first female jockey to win a Triple Crown race was Julieanne ‘Julie’ Krone. On June 5, 1993, she rode into the history books when partnering Colonial Affair, trained by the late Flint “Scotty” Schulhofer, to a 2¼-length victory over Kissin Kris in the Belmont Stakes, run over 1 mile and 4 furlongs at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. At the time of writing, Krone remains the only female jockey to have won any of the Triple Crown races.

Born in Benton Harbor, Michigan on July 24, 1963, was still only 17 when she rode her first winner, Lord Farkle, at Tampa Bay Downs on February 12, 1981, having left high school in her senior year to concentrate on her riding career. At the time of her retirement, for the second time, in 2004, she had ridden 3,704 winners and has the distinction of being the most successful female jockey of all time, at least as far as thoroughbred horse racing is concerned.

Krone retired for the first time in 1999 and, the following year, became the first female jockey to be inducted into the Official National Thoroughbred Hall of Fame. However, she returned to competitve race riding in 2002 and on October 25, 2003, rode Halffbridled, trained by Richard Mandella, to victory in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California, thereby becoming the first female jockey to win any Breeders’ Cup race, too.