Black Winning Jockeys in the Kentucky Derby PDF Download

Author: James Robert Saunders
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476616698
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 142

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Book Description
Oliver Lewis was champion jockey of the Kentucky Derby in 1875 with a winning race time of two minutes and 37 seconds. Jockey Willie Simms won in 1896, bringing his horse in at two minutes and seven seconds. James Winkfield was the winning jockey in both 1901 and 1902 with winning race times of two minutes and seven seconds and two minutes and eight seconds, respectively. Each of these men possessed the skill and power necessary to spur a horse to glorious victory. All are members of the small, select group of Derby-winning jockeys who were African Americans. The stakes were high: Black jockeys who won a race in the late 1700s and 1800s sometimes won freedom from slavery as well. This work examines the presence of black jockeys in the Kentucky Derby, from the first instance of slaves working as stable hands and tending their masters’ horses to the first black jockey to win the prestigious Kentucky Derby in 1875 and the continued participation of black jockeys in the Kentucky Derby. Black owners and trainers in the Kentucky Derby are also discussed. Three appendices list black winning jockeys, black trainers and black owners of Kentucky Derby horses.

Author: Edward Hotaling
Publisher: Prima Lifestyles
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 408

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Book Description
More than a century before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in major league baseball, black athletes were dominating America's first national sport. The sport was horse racing, and the greatest jockeys of all were slaves and the sons of slaves. Cheered by thousands of Americans in the North and South, they rode to victory in all of the major stakes, including the very first Kentucky Derby. Although their glory days ranged from the early 1700s to the turn of the 20th century, the memory of these great black jockeys was erased from history. Who were these athletes and why have their names vanished without a trace? "This may be the most fascinating untold sports story in American history. We are lucky that it is so well told now by Mr. Hotaling in his wonderfully written book." -- Charles Osgood, anchor, CBS News Sunday Morning "The Great Black Jockeys is the first book about the lives and times of the forgotten men whose extraordinary skills were a wonder to behold, men with names like "Honest Ike" Murphy, Abe Hawkins, Willie Simms, Austin Curtis, Jimmy Winkfield, and dozens more. This is also a story of a young country where whole towns turned out in cleared fields to cheer and place wagers on magnificent horses and the men who rode them, and where the greatest athletes in the land were the property of others. For fleeting moments on the racecourse black riders in colorful silks tasted the glory and freedom that slavery had denied them. In "The Great Black Jockeys, the exploits and courage of America's earliest and best athletes are finally remembered.

Author: Crystal Hubbard
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781584302742
Category : African American jockeys
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Born into an African American sharecropping family in 1880s Kentucky, Jimmy Winkfield grew up loving horses. The large, powerful animals inspired little Jimmy to think big. Looking beyond his family's farm, he longed for a life riding on action-packed racetracks around the world. Like his hero, the great Isaac Murphy, Jimmy "Wink" Winkfield would stop at nothing to make it as a jockey. Though his path to success was wrought with obstacles both on the track and off, Wink faced each challenge with passion and a steadfast spirit. Along the way he carved out a lasting legacy as one of history's finest horsemen and the last African American ever to win the Kentucky Derby. The Last Black King of the Kentucky Derby brings to life a vivacious hero from a little-known chapter of American sports history. Readers are transported trackside to witness the heart-pounding story of a vibrant young man chasing down his dream.

Author: Pellom McDanielsIII
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813143845
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 550

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Book Description
Isaac Burns Murphy (1861–1896) was one of the most dynamic jockeys of his era. Still considered one of the finest riders of all time, Murphy was the first jockey to win the Kentucky Derby three times, and his 44 percent win record remains unmatched. Despite his success, Murphy was pushed out of Thoroughbred racing when African American jockeys were forced off the track, and he died in obscurity. In The Prince of Jockeys: The Life of Isaac Burns Murphy, author Pellom McDaniels III offers the first definitive biography of this celebrated athlete, whose life spanned the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the adoption of Jim Crow legislation. Despite the obstacles he faced, Murphy became an important figure—not just in sports, but in the social, political, and cultural consciousness of African Americans. Drawing from legal documents, census data, and newspapers, this comprehensive profile explores how Murphy epitomized the rise of the black middle class and contributed to the construction of popular notions about African American identity, community, and citizenship during his lifetime.

Author: Katherine C. Mooney
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674419561
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 331

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Book Description
Katherine C. Mooney recaptures the sights, sensations, and illusions of America's first mass spectator sport. Her central characters are not the elite white owners of slaves and thoroughbreds but the black jockeys, grooms, and horse trainers who called themselves race horse men and made the racetrack run--until Jim Crow drove them from their jobs.

Author: Joe Drape
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0060537299
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
The life of Jimmy Winkfield is an exuberant epic: the seventeenth child of Kentucky sharecroppers, he was the last black jockey to win the Kentucky Derby, and survived the Ku Klux Klan, the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, and the Nazis, and died a wealthy landowner in a French chateau. Jimmy Winkfield is surely the oddest and most invisible witness to some of the greatest historical events of the 20th century. His life is one of adventure and history, of travels around the world. Winkfield, a black jockey, won the Kentucky Derby in 1901 and 1902. He was the last African American to win that race, and actually closed out an era in which black jockeys dominated the event. (The legacy had its roots in slavery, when plantation owners left the care, training and racing of horses to their slaves. In the first Kentucky Derby, in 1875, 13 of the 15 riders were African Americans. So was the winning jockey. And, over the first 28 years the Derby was run, 15 of the winning riders were African American. ) Jimmy Winkfield went from being the youngest of 17 in a family of sharecroppers, to racing for $8 a month, and eventually $1000 per race. But in 1903 Winkfield lost his third attempt, and his racing life faltered. He found himself under tremendous economic pressure–and racial pressure at the same time, from the KKK. Anxious about racial riots and protests, Winkfield accepted an offer to race in Russia, where he found refuge from the KKK and became a star again. A few years later, he became the Tsar's rider, until the Bolsheviks chased him out along with 200 of the Tsar's horses. In order to save them, Winkfield drove the horses through a nasty Eastern European winter, eating some of them along the way to stave off starvation. He arrived in France with these beloved horses, became a gentleman, married, rode and made a lot of money. Then came the Nazis, who drove him and his family back to Aitken, S.C., where he resumed a humble life as a $15 a day horse groomer. After the War he returned to France and resumed his position, farm and estate. He came for a visit to Louisville in 1961 as a guest of Sports Illustrated and, ironically, was not allowed in the door of the Brown Hotel.

Author: James C. Nicholson
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813140404
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
Each year on the first Saturday in May, the world turns its attention to the twin spires of Churchill Downs for the high-stakes excitement of the "greatest two minutes in sports," the Kentucky Derby. No American sporting event can claim the history, tradition, or pageantry that the Kentucky Derby holds. For more than 130 years, spectators have been fascinated by the magnificent horses that run the Louisville track. Thoroughbreds such as Secretariat and Barbaro have earned instant international fame, along with jockeys such as Isaac Murphy, Ron Turcotte, and Calvin Borel. The Kentucky Derby: How the Run for the Roses Became America's Premier Sporting Event calls this great tradition to post and illuminates its history and culture. Rising from its humble beginnings as an American variation of England's Epsom Derby, the Kentucky Derby became a centerpiece of American sports and the racing industry, confirming Kentucky's status as the Horse Capital of the World. James C. Nicholson argues that the Derby, at its essence, is a celebration of a place, existing as a connection between Kentucky's mythic past and modern society. The Derby is more than just a horse race -- it is an experience enhanced by familiar traditions, icons, and images that help Derby fans to understand Kentucky and define themselves as Americans. Today the Kentucky Derby continues to attract international attention from royalty, celebrities, racing fans, and those who simply enjoy an icy mint julep, a fabulous hat, and a wager on who will make it to the winner's circle. Nicholson provides an intriguing and thorough history of the Kentucky Derby, examining the tradition, spectacle, culture, and evolution of the Kentucky Derby -- the brightest jewel of the Triple Crown.

Author: Milton C. Toby
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 1614231818
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 95

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Book Description
On May 4, 1968, Dancer's Image crossed the finish line at Churchill Downs to win the 94th Kentucky Derby. Yet the jubilation ended three days later for the owner, the jockey and the trainers who propelled the celebrated thoroughbred to victory. Amid a firestorm of controversy, Dancer's Image was disqualified after blood tests revealed the presence of a widely used anti-inflammatory drug with a dubious legal status. Over forty years later, questions still linger over the origins of the substance and the turmoil it created. Veteran turfwriter and noted equine law expert Milt Toby gives the first in-depth look at the only disqualification in Derby history and how the Run for the Roses was changed forever.

Author: Jennifer S. Kelly
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813177170
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
He was always destined to be a champion. Royally bred, with English and American classic winners in his pedigree, Sir Barton shone from birth, dubbed the "king of them all." But after a winless two-year-old season and a near-fatal illness, uncertainty clouded the start of Sir Barton's three-year-old season. Then his surprise victory in America's signature race, the Kentucky Derby, started him on the road to history, where he would go on to dominate the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes, completing America's first Triple Crown. His wins inspired the ultimate chase for greatness in American horse racing and established an elite group that would grow to include legends like Citation, Secretariat, and American Pharoah. After a series of dynamic wins in 1920, popular opinion tapped Sir Barton as the best challenger for the wonder horse Man o' War, and demanded a match race to settle once and for all which horse was the greatest. That duel would cement the reputation of one horse for all time and diminish the reputation of the other for the next century -- until now. Sir Barton and the Making of the Triple Crown is the first book to focus on Sir Barton, his career, and his historic impact on horse racing. Author Jennifer S. Kelly uses extensive research and historical sources to examine this champion's life and achievements. Kelly charts how Sir Barton broke track records, scored victories over other champions, and sparked the yearly pursuit of Triple Crown glory. This book reveals the legacy of Sir Barton and his seminal contributions to Thoroughbred racing one hundred years after his pioneering achievement.

Author: Richard Sowers
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476613273
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 529

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Book Description
This is the definitive history of thoroughbred racing's three premier events, which have never before been explored in such detail. This book gives the history of America's classic races from the inaugural Belmont Stakes in 1867 through 2013, identifying which equine participants were truly worthy of lasting acclaim and which were one-hit wonders. Perhaps even more compelling are the stories of the men and women who rode, trained, owned, or bred classic winners, including their exploits on the turf and their triumphs and failures in arenas far removed from horse racing.