Good Morning POU! Today's feature was the Groom for Triple Crown Winner Secretariat. Eddie Sweat Edward "Eddie" Sweat (August 29, 1939 – April 17, 1998) was an American groom in Thoroughbred horse racing who was the subject of the 2006 book by Lawrence Scanlan titled The Horse God Built: Secretariat, His Groom, Their Legacy. Born in Holly Hill, South Carolina, … [Read more...] about Tuesday Open Thread: African Americans and The Sport of Horse Racing
The Kentucky Derby
Monday Open Thread: African Americans and The Sport of Horse Racing
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
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
Tuesday Open Thread: The History of Black Jockeys
Born 1882, in Chilesburg, KY, Jimmy Winkfield had one of the most storied careers of all. Jimmy Winkfield was one of only four jockeys in history to win back-to-back runnings of the Kentucky Derby, scoring on "His Eminence" in 1901 and "Alan-a-Dale" in 1902. Known as the king of the Chicago tracks, he was described by Col. Phil Chinn as a "gentleman on the ground, a demon in … [Read more...] about Tuesday Open Thread: The History of Black Jockeys