Homeister in elite company with Oaks ride

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Rosemary Homeister Jr. became part of Kentucky Derby lore 12 years ago when she became just the fifth woman to ride in the race, and now she’s poised to make more Churchill Downs history.

Homeister will ride Include Betty in the $1 million Kentucky Oaks on Friday and become just the third woman ever to ride in both the Derby and Oaks, following Julie Krone and Rosie Napravnik. Homeister has the call on Include Betty in the 141st Oaks at Churchill Downs for owners Brererton Jones and Tim Thornton and trainer Tom Proctor.

“I love it, especially because it looks like I have a really good chance,” Homeister said Monday. “I’m riding for a great trainer and the filly’s at the top of the game right now. I’m so excited.”

With Homeister aboard for all of them, Include Betty has used a sweeping late run to win her last three starts on dirt, including 18-1 upsets in both the Suncoast Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs and the Grade 3 Fantasy Stakes at Oaklawn Park. Between those races came a defeat on turf at Tampa.

Include Betty was expected to be part of a full gate of 3-year-old fillies when entries were taken Tuesday for the 1 1/8-mile filly classic. The 14-horse limit was expected to be invoked for the first time since the points-eligibility system first came into use in 2013.

Homeister, 42, has won more than 2,700 races in a career that began in 1992. She finished 13th in the 2003 Derby aboard Supah Blitz, a 43-1 shot trained by Manny Tortora.

Napravnik, who in 2011 became the sixth woman to ride in the Derby (and went on to ride in it twice more), is the only female rider to have won either the Derby or Oaks. She won the 2012 Oaks aboard Believe You Can for Brereton Jones.

Krone was the first woman to ride the Oaks when she guided Quinpool to a third-place finish behind Dispute in the 1993 running. Besides Krone and Napravnik, Greta Kuntzweiler is the only female jockey to have ridden in the Oaks. She was last of seven aboard Rugula in the 2005 running.