01-05-2025
The history of Black jockeys at the Kentucky Derby
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (FOX 56) — Bill Shoemaker, Victor Espinoza, John Velazquez. Those are just some of the names that have become synonymous with winning the Kentucky Derby as a jockey.
But before them, there was a group of Kentucky jockeys long forgotten by history.
'Black jockeys dominated horse racing ever since the era of European settler colonialism,' said Chris Goodlett, senior director of curatorial affairs at the Kentucky Derby Museum.
From the minute the first Kentucky Derby left the starting gate, Black jockeys ran away from the field.
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'The story of Isaac Murphy, who had about a 44% career winning percentage,' Goodlett detailed. 'He was the first jockey to win the Kentucky Derby three times, the first jockey to win the Kentucky Derby in back-to-back years. Jimmy Winkfield, the most recent Black jockey to win the Kentucky Derby, he won in 1901 and in 1902. His story is fascinating because he was the dominant jockey here. He left the States largely because of the era of segregation, and he went to Russia, was a successful jockey in Russia just as he was in the United States.'
Among the many greats of his day was Oliver Lewis. The 19-year-old from Woodford County rode Aristides all the way to the Winner's Circle in the very first Run for the Roses.
At the time, the duo was said to be the pace setters for H.P. McGrath's 'better' horse in the race, Chesapeake.
But as we know, once you hit the home stretch at Churchill Downs, anything can happen.
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'It's said that when he got towards that final stretch run, he actually looked at McGrath, and McGrath was basically at that point urging him on because Chesapeake was a little bit way of a ways back,' explained Goodlett. 'So he said, 'Just go for it,' and Lewis did, and Aristides and Oliver Lewis won that very first Kentucky Derby.'
Lewis never rode in another Derby after the historic win, but his legacy was cemented.
'Some of the work he did eventually, as you go down, the line ends up being some of those elaborate racing charts that we see now,' Goodlett said. 'So even though he may not have had a long career as a jockey, he did do a lot of stuff within the industry that still have an impact.'
Now Lewis' legacy and the legacies of all Black jockeys live on at the Kentucky Derby Museum in Louisville.
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'Black Heritage in Racing is an exhibit that allows us to really show people how the history of this sport and this industry fits within the larger history of the United States,' Goodlett said. 'Black Heritage in Racing does that for us. We look at the dominance of African American jockeys prior to the era of segregation.'
While no Black jockeys are riding in 2025's Kentucky Derby, the jockeys riding in Derby 151 will either join the exclusive club of winning Derby jockeys or the even more exclusive club of multi-time Derby-winning jockeys.
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