Kentucky Oaks Results 2021: Malathaat Wins in Photo Finish over Search Results

Charlie Riedel/Associated Press

Malathaat spent most of the 2021 Kentucky Oaks stuck in the middle of the field. 

When she got out in the open, though, the undefeated filly kicked things into high gear and captured a fourth Kentucky Oaks for trainer Todd Pletcher.

Malathaat defeated Search Results by a nose in the 147th running of the Oaks, with Will's Secret coming in third. 

After getting out of the gate slow, Malathaat struggled to make her way through a packed field that was led by Travel Column early on. Travel Column, coming in at 7-2, held the front for three-quarters of the race before running out of steam down the stretch.

Search Results took her first lead of the race coming out of the final turn as Malathaat, who hung steady in fifth place, made her way up the track on the home stretch. Malathaat and Search Results ran stride for stride until the former pulled ahead by a neck and stayed there as they galloped to the finish.

Will's Secret and Clairiere were three lengths behind the leaders and well out of contention. Travel Column finished fifth, 5.5 lengths behind.

Pletcher's Kentucky Oaks triumph will only continue to further one of the greatest training legacies in horse racing history. He now holds four Kentucky Oaks wins, to go along with his two Kentucky Derbies and three wins in the Belmont Stakes.

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The 53-year-old has never won the Oaks and Derby in the same year. Pletcher will lead four horses into Saturday's Run for the Roses, led by Known Agenda, which will come off at 6-1 from the inside post.