Into each horse’s career comes a fateful moment, a decision or an injury or some outside force that changes the trajectory of their career. For Sir Barton, it was a cough caught from a stablemate. Gallant Fox’s came when Earl Sande agreed to ride the Belair colt in every start of his Triple Crown season in 1930.

Women have played key roles in horse racing since the venerable sport’s earliest days.

Yet few women – or men for that matter – at any level of the sport created a legacy that can rival the respect and importance of Marylou Whitney.

Whitney, who died July 19, 2019, at age 93, did so much more than simply race in the famed Eton blue and brown silks. She became the first woman in 80 years to breed and own a Kentucky Oaks winner. She won the Belmont Stakes and Travers in the same year.