Good Morning POU! This week, as we head into the most revered horse race in the USA, The Kentucky Derby, we will feature African Americans who are lost legends in the world of thoroughbred racing - not only jockeys, but trainers and grooms as well. (You can also check out our previous week long feature on The History of Black Jockeys from 2013 - just search "Black … [Read more...] about Monday Open Thread: African Americans and The Sport of Horse Racing
Horse Racing
Saturday Open Thread: The History Of Black Jockeys
On June 15, 1971, Cheryl White became the first black female jockey. She was also the first woman at a major track to win five throroughbred races. In 1991, after passing the California Horse Racing Board's Steward examination, she began serving as a racing official at California tracks.Cheryl was one of racing's pioneers. It was reported by one source that Cheryl was one of … [Read more...] about Saturday Open Thread: The History Of Black Jockeys
Friday Open Thread: The History Of Black Jockeys
The game was called "Rescue." After sitting under the horse track rails playing in the dirt and watching his father exercise horses, DeShawn Parker, 4 or 5 years old at the time, would stand beside a towering horse. His father, Daryl, would yell, "Rescue!" then lean over, scoop up the young boy and plop him onto the horse. DeShawn Parker went from jumping into his father's … [Read more...] about Friday Open Thread: The History Of Black Jockeys
Thursday Open Thread: The History Of Black Jockeys
The history of Thoroughbred horse racing in America is rich with the legacy of black jockeys. There was a time when riding a racehorse was almost exclusively a black occupation. It began with plantation owners using lightweight slave boys to race their horses against rival owners. Some slaves were tied to horses to keep them from falling off, resulting in injury and … [Read more...] about Thursday Open Thread: The History Of Black Jockeys
Wednesday Open Thread: The History Of Black Jockeys
Isaac Burns Murphy (April 16, 1861 - February 12, 1896) was an African-American Hall of Fame jockey, who is considered one of the greatest (by many accounts, THE greatest) riders in American Thoroughbred horse racing history. Murphy won three Kentucky Derbies. Burns’s father, a free black man, was a bricklayer and his mother was a laundrywoman. During the civil war his father … [Read more...] about Wednesday Open Thread: The History Of Black Jockeys