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 Oliver Lewis rider of the first Kentucky Derby winner Aristides |
The accomplishments of African-American horsemen in the early years of the sport are often forgotten, but in the years between the Civil War and the turn of the century, they were very influential. In the first Kentucky Derby Aristides was trained by African-American Ansel Williamson and guided to
After the turn of the century, racing started to be a higher profile sport, and blacks were mostly seen only as stable help. The last black jockey to win the Kentucky Derby, Jimmy Winkfield who won in both 1901 and 1902, left the US for Europe and a lucrative racing career where it is rumoured he even rode for the Czar of Russia. He became fluent in several languages before he retired with over 2300 winners to his credit.
Here are a few other prominent black horsemen of the 1800's:
victory by Oliver Lewis, one of 15 black jockeys in that race. Over all, 15 of the first 28 Kentucky Derbys were won by black jockeys and 5 were trained by black trainers.
Jimmy Winkfield winner of the Kentucky Derby in 1901 and 1902
Isaac Murphy's grave at the Kentucky Horse Park
Most famous of the black jockeys by far is Isaac Murphy who is considered one of the greatest riders in American history. He was the first jockey to win three Kentucky Derbys and won an astonishing 44% of all races he rode. That record has not been approached by any other jockey since. He was the first jockey to be inducted into the Jockey Hall of Fame at the National Museum of Racing.
Sadly, his career was cut short at the age of 34 when he died of pneumonia. He always had trouble staying at the light weight demanded of a jockey and was known to binge and purge. It has been speculated that it was vomit backing up in his lungs that caused the pneumonia which led to his death.
He is buried next to Man O' War in the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington.
Isaac Murphy who won 44% of all his races
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| Ed Brown who trained 1877 Kentucky Derby winner Baden-Baden | Alonzo Clayton who won the Kentucky Derby at only 15 years of age | James Perkins who also won the Derby at only 15 | Willie Simms who won the Derby twice and each of the Triple Crown races at least once. |
In recent years, African-Americans have started coming back into the mainstream of racing. MC Hammer had the successful Oaktown Stable which raced the excellent filly Lite Light, winner of the Kentucky Oaks and other prestigious races. Barry Gordy of Motown fame has also had some success with his horses. More recently, the young jockey Marlon St. Julien has been very successful in the Texas and Chicago racing circuits. However, there is still a long way to go before the old prejudices die so young jockeys can get a fair chance at a career in racing despite the advances made by black owners and trainers.
Here are some links to some interesting articles on the web:
- Winning Black Jockeys in the Kentucky Derby - by James Robert Saunders and Monica Renae Saunders. An excellent work just released a couple of months ago.
- The Great Black Jockeys: The Lives and Times of the Men Who Dominated America's First National Sport - a book by Edward Hotaling from 1999 with some nice reviews here
- African-Americans in the Kentucky Derby - a very nice history from Churchill Downs.
- Black in the Saddle - mostly based on info from the Hotaling book with lots of excerpts. Really very good despite the corny title.
- African-Americans in The Sports Arena: Horse Racing - a very nice history of the first identifiable African-American sportsmen
- Abe Hawkins - from the Fair Grounds Racing Hall of Fame, arguably the first African American athlete to gain national prominence.
- African-Americans in the Racing Hall of Fame:
- St. Julien will be first black jockey in 79 years at Derby - an article from Sports Illustrated from 2000
- More from About.com: African American History - guide Jessica McElrath has more on history
Photographs by author or from the author's collection.
