By Ricky Tyus
The Truth’s Travel Consultant
Willie Simms was an American National Champion jockey in Thoroughbred racing and a U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee who won five of the races that would become the U.S. Triple Crown series.
The Kentucky Derby, an iconic American sporting event steeped in tradition, boasts a rich and complex history that is often overshadowed by its modern-day glamour. A significant, yet frequently overlooked, aspect of this history is the substantial role played by Black jockeys in the early years of the race.
From the first Derby in 1875 until the early 1900s, Black jockeys and horsemen were dominant figures in thoroughbred racing. Fifteen of the first 28 Derby winners were ridden by Black jockeys who were among the highest-paid athletes of the day. Of the 15 jockeys who thundered across the finish line in the first Kentucky Derby in 1875, 13 were Black.
One notable figure is Oliver Lewis, who won the first Kentucky Derby in 1875 riding Aristides.
Oliver Lewis, winning jockey of the first Kentucky Derby
On May 17, 1875, Lewis won the very first Kentucky Derby aboard Aristides. The pair won by a reported two lengths, setting a new American record time for a mile-and-a-half race. With that victory Lewis became the first jockey to win the Kentucky Derby, America’s longest continuous sporting event. Later that season, Lewis came in second in the Belmont Stakes in New York and won three more races at the Louisville Jockey Club, riding Aristide in all of them. He would never ride in the Kentucky Derby again, however, and would retire after that racing season for unknown reasons.
Another prominent jockey was Isaac Murphy, who won the Derby three times in the late 1800s.
Isaac Burns Murphy was an American Hall of Fame jockey, considered one of the greatest riders in American Thoroughbred horse racing history. He won three runnings of the Kentucky Derby and was the first jockey to be inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame at its creation in 1955.
Murphy began his racing career riding for Williams and Owings stables in 1875 at the age of 14. What followed was one of the most illustrious careers in the history of the sport, during which Murphy became one of the highest paid athletes and among the most famous black men in America. Murphy rode in 11 Kentucky Derbies, winning three times: on Buchanan in 1884, Riley in 1890 and Kingman in 1891.
Kingman was owned by Jacobin Stables (co-owners, Preston Kinzea Stone and Dudley Allen) and trained by Dudley Allen, and was the first horse co-owned by an African American to win the Derby. Murphy is the only jockey to have won the Kentucky Derby, the Kentucky Oaks, and the Clark Handicap in the same year (1884).
Jimmy Winkfield was a Thoroughbred jockey and horse trainer from Kentucky, best remembered as the last African American to ride a winner in the Kentucky Derby (1902).
Jimmy Winkfield in 1900 rode Thrive in the Kentucky Derby, finishing third. He rode in the race again in 1901 and 1902, winning on His Eminence and Alan-a-Dale respectively. In 1901, he won 220 races. He competed in his final Derby in 1903, finishing second on Early.
Winkfield later was blackballed in the US, but he was offered a chance to race in Russia, where he quickly rose to fame. He won the Russian Oaks five times, the Russian Derby four times, the Czar’s Prize on three occasions, and the Warsaw Derby twice. The Russian Revolution caused him to leave the country in 1917, and he moved to France where he resumed racing, scoring numerous wins including the Prix du Président de la République, Grand Prix de Deauville, and Prix Eugène Adam. He retired as a jockey at age 50 having won more than 2,500 races, then began a second successful career as a horse trainer.
While he was treated with respect in Europe, segregation still ruled American society. When Sports Illustrated invited Winkfield to a reception at the Brown Hotel in Louisville in 1961, he was told he could not enter by the front door. He was admitted after the magazine explained that he was an invited guest. Winkfield made an appearance at the Kentucky Derby that year to celebrate 60 years since his historic victories. In 2004, he was inducted posthumously into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. The Jimmy Winkfield Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack is run in his honor
Black jockeys were pushed out of the sport by the early 20th century, despite their initial success.
An Anti-Colored Union was in place, intending to run the black riders off the racetrack. The key push to exclude Black jockeys came when White jockeys began violently attacking their African American counterparts by boxing them out during races, running them into the rail, and hitting them with riding crops. These attacks prevented Black jockeys from finishing in the money and endangered fragile and valuable racehorses.
Owners tacitly participated in the expulsion of African American jockeys as a business decision. Why employ a Black jockey if White jockeys would use violence to prevent them from finishing in the money, and risk damaging a valuable horse in the process?
The late Arthur Ashe, writing in his A Hard Road to Glory:
A History of the African-American Athlete, described their success this way: “Black domination of horse racing then was analogous to the domination of the National Basketball Association today.”
“The Jockey Club was formed in the early 1890s to regulate and license all jockeys,” Ashe wrote. “Then one by one the blacks were denied their license renewals. By 1911, they had all but disappeared.”
The Jockey Club today has 128 members. None are Black.
This sport — and the Kentucky Derby in particular — is about as textbook an example as you can find of a thriving group of Black professionals being driven out of a lucrative enterprise by petty racism that became systemic. It offers a clear view of the historical effects of that banishment and demonstrates how those effects are still being felt — acutely — a century later.
Ashe called it the “saddest case” of discrimination in American sport.
There are several initiatives and efforts underway to acknowledge and celebrate the contributions of Black trailblazers in horse racing:
- Kentucky Derby Museum: The museum has expanded its “Black Heritage in Racing” exhibit, which highlights the achievements of Black jockeys, trainers, and horsemen. This exhibit includes artifacts, artwork, and oral histories that showcase the impact of Black individuals in Thoroughbred racing.
- Ed Brown Society: Founded by Greg Harbut and Raymond Daniels, this organization provides internships and scholarships for underrepresented young people of color. The goal is to give them opportunities to pursue careers in Kentucky’s equine industry.
- Legacy Equine Academy: This educational program, founded by Ron Mack, offers middle- and high-school students in the Lexington area hands-on experience with horses. The program also connects participants to their heritage through tours of the International Museum of the Horse and other historical sites.
- Diversity Derby Week: Organized by Tawana Bain, this initiative aims to boost diversity and economic inclusion in horse racing. The event includes activities that highlight the contributions of Black jockeys and horsemen and works to increase the participation of Black businesses in the economic opportunities surrounding the Derby.
- The Heart of the Turf: Racing’s Black Pioneers: A temporary exhibit at Keeneland Library that features many unsung heroes, including Sylvia Bishop, the first African American woman licensed to train horses in the US.
These efforts are helping to ensure that the rich history of Black horsemen and their contributions to the sport are recognized and celebrated.
The story of Black jockeys in the Kentucky Derby is a poignant reminder of the enduring struggle for racial equality in America. It is a story of triumph over adversity, of talent and skill overcoming prejudice, and of a legacy that refuses to be forgotten. As we celebrate the Kentucky Derby each year, we must remember and honor the Black jockeys who played such a pivotal role in shaping the race’s history. Their story is not merely a footnote; it is an integral part of the rich tapestry of the Kentucky Derby, and their contributions deserve to be recognized and celebrated.
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