Road to the Kentucky Derby: Female jockeys challenge odds, fight for right to ride
But Ferrin Peterson said it starts with a special spark between a horse and its rider- a connection she said she's lucky enough to feel as a professional jockey and part-time veterinarian.
'It's always been Plan A to work with horses and my passion,' said Peterson. 'That's always what's driving me—my passion and the fact that I can excel in both careers. Why not combine them?'
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As a former Division One pole vaulter who holds 11 records, Peterson said she's used to defying gravity, but that the road to the Kentucky Derby as a female jockey is far from a joyride.
'It's not the sport where if you work the hardest and if you're the most athletic, you win the competition,' she said. 'It's if you get the opportunity to be on the horse that will take you there.'
In this sport built for speed, Jessica Whitehead said women often find themselves racing uphill.Although women have been breeding and owning racehorses since the 1930s, Whitehead noted that it was the 1960s before women earned the right to ride.
'Kathy Kusner literally had to sue the Maryland Racing Commission in order to get her license,' said Whitehead, senior curator of collections at the Kentucky Derby Museum. 'And she had to use the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in order to have that defense and to set that precedent that she should legally be able to do this.'
In the beginning, she explained that female jockeys faced all kinds of barriers of intimidation, such as boycotts, things being thrown at them, and windows being smashed in their dressing rooms.
'Things that, of course, many male horsemen were hoping would sort of scare them off from being involved in the sport,' said Whitehead. 'But they were tenacious; they knew what they wanted to do, and they knew that they had a place in the thoroughbred racing industry.'
Only six women have competed in the Kentucky Derby. Diane Crump was the first in 1970, and Peterson hopes to be the seventh.
She said the real weight women carry isn't in the saddle; it's in the expectations, saying far too many leaders in the industry believe women cave under pressure.
'I wish more people knew and that more owners understood that I was a record-setting and breaking Division One pole vaulter,' said Peterson. 'And as an emergency medicine veterinarian, like, again, it's just in my being to thrive under pressure and to set my bar high.'
Peterson said she's even more motivated after speaking with mentors on 'The Boundless Podcast,' such as former Kentucky Derby jockey Patti Cooksey.
'They are very intelligent and very intentional about anything they do in a race and how they get a horse to cooperate with them, getting a horse to relax early in the race to save its energy,' she said.
Peterson is currently recovering from an injury, but said while she's spending time at Safari North, a horse farm in Versailles, she's counting down the days until she's back in the saddle. Her goal may seem like a long shot, but she wants to win the Kentucky Derby one day.
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'Why not try to achieve something extraordinary and see how far it can take you?' she said. 'You can knock on a lot of doors, but you only need one to open. I'm going to know that I've given everything to get myself in that starting gate and give myself the best chance to win.'
She told her it's not just about running for the roses; it's also about beating the odds that were never in her favor.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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