Diversity | Horse Racing Free Tips

The First Steps Towards Inclusiveness in Racing

On a sparsely traveled road in downtown Lexington, African Cemetery No. 2 sits encircled by a worn iron fence. The sounds of cars flashing by nearby busier streets, the incessant barking of a neighboring dog and the harsh droning of a drill from the adjacent auto parts shop carry through the isolated eight-acre plot.

Opened in 1869, the site now contains over 5,000 graves, of which fewer than 600 are recognized with markers. The plot inters hundreds of enslaved African Americans, as well as members of the U.S. Colored Troops in the Civil War. It is the burial grounds for attorneys, political activists, doctors, lawyers and, some of the best jockeys the Thoroughbred racing world has ever known.
Leon Nichols, the co-founder and CEO of the Project to Preserve African American Turf History, has traversed the grounds many times.

“These were people who made lasting impacts on society and rallied their knowledge together to carve out a space in their respective fields,” he said. “These people gave us a legacy that they created in the most trying of times in America, but they still prevailed and left us with a tremendous amount of stories that we can forever hold onto and help shape future generations.”
A native of Lexington, Nichols grew up hearing the tales of many of the equestrians laid to rest at the site. Much of his family, from uncles to brother, were involved in the industry as trainers, grooms and hot walkers.

It’s just something that was always a part of our family heritage,” he recounted. “As a kid, I grew up following in those footsteps and hanging around the racetrack and working on the farms. I guess what really struck me is that being in those environments, everyone talked about the contributions of African American jockeys and trainers back then, but as a young kid, I never saw any representation.”

As time went on, Nichols was continually struck by the minimal recognition given to those African American jockeys who defined the early years of horse racing. He said there was always a thought in the back of his mind that perhaps there was something he could do to help bring their stories to light.

In 2007, while working at the Kroger Distribution Center in Louisville, Nichols was approached by co-workers Calvin Davis and Jerry Fife. The men had heard about his racing background and wanted to learn more.

Soon after, the trio formed the Project to Preserve African American Turf History (PPAATH).

From left: James Natsis, Calvin Davis, Leon Nichols, Jerry Fife

“We just felt like there needed to be representation in terms of the African American contributions to horse racing,” Nichols said. “The overall mission is that we wanted to find ways that we could integrate the history into the equine industry and really have some outreach to set up the next generation in terms of learning about this forgotten past.”
Through this outreach in educating the general public, the program hopes to widen horse racing’s audience.

“We wanted to reconnect the fanbase and show the collective contribution of people of color to the sport, as well as make the sport more relevant than what it is currently,” Nichols said. “I think the way you do that is through the narration of these stories and this history, and then you get a greater appreciation of the sport, the Derby, and horse racing in general.”

Much of the history that the group aims to highlight is centered around the over 150 equine industry participants buried at African Cemetery No. 2.

Towards the back of the cemetery, beneath an ancient oak tree, a three-foot tall headstone commemorates the Lewis family.

Oliver Lewis was born into slavery in Lexington in 1856. While still a teenager, he became the first jockey to win the Kentucky Derby aboard Aristides in 1875. He was one of 13 African American jockeys in the 15-horse field, and would go on to run second with Aristides in the Belmont S. He never raced in another Kentucky Derby, and little is known about his life beyond that bright moment in the spotlight. Lewis died in 1924 and while records indicate that he was buried in a family grave at African Cemetery No. 2, his name is not listed on the family monument.

Just a few years after Lewis rode to victory in Louisville, James “Soup” Perkins was born in 1880 in Lexington. He began riding at the age of 11, and then at the age of 15 became the youngest jockey to ever win the Kentucky Derby, a distinction that he still shares with fellow African American jockey Alonzo Clayton, who was victorious in the prestigious event just three years prior. Perkins is buried in a family plot along with his brother Frank, who was a successful trainer until he was killed in 1900.

Perhaps the most famous person buried at the historic site is Isaac Murphy. Born into slavery in 1861, Murphy moved to Lexington with his mother following the Civil War. He would go on to ride in 11 Kentucky Derbies, and come out on top in 1884, 1890 and 1891.

“Isaac was able to communicate with the horse through his hands and his warm personality,” Nichols said. “He rarely used the whip, and was revered for his strict honesty.”

From 1892 through 1895, Murphy achieved an incomprehensible winning percentage of 44%.

“One of his biggest claims-to-fame was the overall impact that he had on the industry,” said Nichols. “You have to understand the times. Being in the 19th century, being an African American, he was able to really bring people together. White and Black alike flooded to see this man in all his glory, and what he brought to the sport of horse racing.”

Nichols said that Murphy was well known for his vibrant personality, and was always a favorite with the media because of his articulateness and honesty. He was also the individual that set the standard for fashion at the race track.

“He was the Michael Jordan or the Tiger Woods of horse racing,” Nichols said. “His legacy in the culture of racing is undeniably embedded in the sport, from fashion to etiquette. He was that transcendent figure in sport that really helped create opportunity for everybody.”

Murphy was not only the first jockey to win three Kentucky Derbies, but also the first to do it back-to-back and eventually the first jockey to be elected to the Hall of Fame.

For most of his career, Murphy was revered as a celebrity, with appearances in newspapers and magazines, and his likeness displayed on tobacco cards. But before the turn of the century, rampant racism took its toll and he was resented for taking money and fame from white jockeys.

The eventual Hall of Famer was forced to retire prematurely due to health issues, and he died of pneumonia at the age of 35 in 1896. He was placed in an unmarked grave at African Cemetery No. 2. and for many years, his burial site was nearly forgotten. It wasn’t until 1967 when a researcher discovered the grave and his remains were exhumed and reinterred at the old Man o’War burial site, and then moved again to the Kentucky Horse Park in 1978.

From 1921 to 2000, not a single African American was represented in the Kentucky Derby | Audrey Menefee

The gradual disappearance of African Americans in racing continued into the early 20th century, with many of the sport’s best African American jockeys leaving the country to ride overseas. Jim Crow laws all but banned African Americans from race tracks. From 1921 to 2000, there was not a single African American jockey represented in the Kentucky Derby.

Despite this extreme absence of African Americans in the sport for nearly a century, Nichols said that the ripple effect of their talent and strong presence in those early days is still felt today.

“When we really get down to the nuts and bolts of it, these stories give us a lesson in terms of diversity and inclusion that I think is very relevant to today because it proves that we worked together then to help Kentucky’s signature industry become what it is today,” Nichols said. “It provides us with a blueprint to really amplify that message nationwide, especially in times like this.”

When PPAATH began their program fewer than 20 years ago, they knew that they would need a way to represent the important stories they were trying to share.

They enlisted the help of Georgia-based fine arts painter Audrey Menefee.

The artist had no background in horse racing, but was interested in sharing the unknown tales of African Americans in the industry. She found that there was not much to go off of in terms of information or images of the jockeys they wished to highlight, but still she was able to create a collection of over a dozen jockey portraits.

In 2010, the “Forgotten Black Jockeys” exhibit was featured at the National Black Arts Festival in Atlanta, Georgia.

The collection has traveled to several venues nationwide.

Two years ago, Dr. James Natsis, a Kentucky-based writer and assistant professor at West Virginia State University found out about the project. He eventually became a vice present of PPAATH, and led an effort to bring the collection to West Virginia State University.

Another major undertaking for the program has been the Isaac Murphy Image Awards.

“We wanted to do something that was really going to bring Isaac’s legacy to the national stage,” said Nichols. “We created the Isaac Murphy Image Awards to honor prominent African Americans in business, education, entertainment and sports who left an indelible mark in their respective fields. We wanted to do that by bringing them to the Kentucky Derby, [so they could] learn a little bit of the history.”

Award recipients include actors Angela Bassett and Danny Glover, Super Bowl MVP and coach Doug Williams, and Olympic medalist Peter Westbook.

PPAATH is now working to grow the span of their awards show, and is collaborating with production companies in hopes to make it into a national awards celebration that runs in conjunction with the Kentucky Derby.

2013 Isaac Murphy Image Award Recipient Angela Bassett | PPAATH

“We still think that this sport is one of the greatest sports in the world, and we want to add a diversity spin to it to help rein in new fan bases,” Nichols said. “It’s a foundational sport for everything we do today in North America, whether it’s the NBA or the NFL, horse racing in its earliest days set the foundation for a sporting culture that far exceeded anyone’s expectations. I think if we can get the sport back to its days of glory and prominence, but more importantly, its impact on diversity and inclusion, everyone wins in that situation.”

Beyond an induction to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004, African Cemetery No. 2 has seen little recognition in this century, even after the graves of those prominent jockeys were re-discovered. PPAATH has been working to change that. In recent years, they’ve partnered with the University of Kentucky to create on-site posters commemorating some of the historical figures laid to rest at the cemetery.

The headstones are still cracked and crumbling, the landscaping is still in need of much attention, but still, it’s a step. Through these series of small strides taken in collaboration, Nichols and his team are working to prevent history from rewriting itself, and initiate the growth of a more diverse horse racing audience.

“It has to be a collaborative approach,” Nichols said. “We have to learn that we can work with one another. This history, in terms of the legacies that we were left with, gives us that blueprint- that when we do work together, amazing things happen. We see an opportunity for this industry to take those very first steps of inclusiveness. It has to be an amicable approach. We have to learn to trust the fact that we can work together, and we can use this history as a frame of reference to help us do that.”

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Diversity in Racing: Anthony Manganaro

Co-Owner, Siena Farm, Paris, KY

Since the beginning of time, humans have pigeonholed each other by race, religion, gender and wealth, which has resulted in discrimination. There are many pathways that can and must be taken to reduce systemic racism and prejudice. But I see no pathway to eliminate latent discrimination; humans will always pigeonhole.

There continues to be systemic racism in all sports and in American society. Blacks, Asians, Hispanics, Native Americans and Muslims continue to bear the brunt of latent discrimination and prejudice.

In the early days of our sport every ethnicity, gender and skin color succeeded at the highest level of the sport–jockeys, trainers, breeders and owners. Ironically, our sport is less diverse today than it was in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Diversity is important. It goes hand and hand with the American Dream’s set of ideals that “life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement regardless of social class or circumstances of birth.” Diversity allows everyone an equal chance to live a life of dignity and hope. My life experiences make this fight for diversity very personal.

My dad came from Catania, Sicily. He was an intelligent, hard-working plasterer, but most importantly, he was a family man. He and my mom raised six kids in a two-bedroom flat in a blue-collar town outside Boston. I get emotional every time I think about the obstacles and indignities my parents suffered so their kids could have a better life.

My mom did her shopping at Filene’s Basement. Until I was 18, I thought “Imperfect” was a brand name.

My dog Duke and I walked to school each morning with my friends. My attendance was very spotty, but upon graduation Duke was given a perfect attendance award. I only got into Northeastern University because my high-school principal, Mr. Collins, pulled some strings. He thought I was “a diamond in the rough.” It certainly wasn’t because of my attendance record. That simple act of kindness changed my life.

I was a subway commuter, two hours each way. Yet when I graduated with a degree in Civil Engineering, I couldn’t get a good engineering job. Was it because of discrimination, or were other candidates better than me? It didn’t matter. I had to adapt and move on, first as a math teacher at $3,600 a year, then joining my brothers in starting a construction company.

As we grew, I delved into other opportunities. But when I approached one of the biggest banks in Baltimore for a loan, I was turned down. Too blue-collar and ethnic.

I found alternative financing. Years later, I was that bank’s biggest customer. I hadn’t suddenly become less “blue collar and ethnic.” Rather, the bankers understood that if they wanted to keep market share, they had to deal with me. You’ve got to scramble and find work-arounds when prejudice blocks your path.

After a while I started looking for a new challenge. My dad and his buddies were regulars at Suffolk Downs and I caught the racing bug early.

So I flew out to Lexington–the epicenter of Thoroughbred racing. Thanks to Tom Biederman, I spotted a rundown, 225-acre cattle farm in Paris, KY, and re-built the place into Siena Farm.

At Siena Farm, my partners David Pope (Polish-American), Nacho Patino (Mexican-American) and I (Italian-American), understand from our life experiences how important it is to give employees and their families hope and dignity. We’re fighting the diversity issue from the bottom up.

David’s immigrant grandparents worked in coal mines, on railroads and bottling plant lines. His dad joined the Air Force, then took factory night jobs while his mom worked at a credit union. They made sure their kids were well cared-for and well-educated. Today, his siblings earn their living as a cartographer, a teacher and an advertising/media buyer. David worked his way through the University of Akron, earning an accounting degree. He started his racing career with Airdrie Stud in Midway, KY, and has set high goals for Siena Farm.

Nacho came from Mexico, where he helped in the fields as a kid in exchange for vegetables to feed his parents and seven siblings. Their mode of transportation: horses. He slept on the floor until he was 15. The next year, Nacho set off for the U.S., and after a harrowing journey crossed the Rio Grande. Eventually, he joined his uncle in Kentucky, who got him a job on a horse farm.

Nacho started as a groom. He eventually ran a boarding and sales prep business, then served as assistant farm manager for Stonerside Farm. In 2008, he joined Siena Farm as farm manager. Within a year, he was promoted to co-owner and general manager.

All three of us are living the American Dream.

So are others on the farm. Our employees are a melting pot of hardworking men and women intent on providing a secure future for their families and raising healthy, confident children who can succeed in school, college and life. Of the seven college-age children on the farm, six are undergraduates and the seventh received a full scholarship to Eastern Kentucky University but decided to join the Navy.

Education is an important tool in the fight for diversity. Back at my alma mater, to pay back Mr. Collins’s simple act of kindness Michele and I started The Torch Scholar program which gives full scholarships to first-generation college students. Torch Scholars are “diamonds in the rough,” who come from families living on the edge. Most are minorities…African-American, Asian and Hispanic.

During the interview process, applicants are asked how they would react when, inevitably, they face discrimination, be it racial, sexual, religious or ethnic bias. We want to see if they understand that prejudice isn’t going to disappear. What counts is how you handle those uncomfortable, cringe-worthy moments. Don’t let it get you down or destroy your ambitions. Find ways to navigate around them. “Keep your eye on the prize.” Always move toward your goal.

The effects of diversity go well beyond the people directly helped. There is a ripple effect that radiates out and affects other people. Siena Farm “kids” and Torch Scholars are prime examples.
Opportunities in the equine industry are endless. As we expand diversity in our sport, the success of people drawn to our sport will be solely dependent on their tenacity, adaptability and skills. If we wait for racists to change their minds, we’ll be waiting for the rest of our lives. In the end, determination, smarts and peak performance are what will make all the difference in racing.

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Diversity in Racing: Jonathon Kinchen

Horseplayer, NYRA/Fox Analyst, Co-creator In The Money Media

What if one of racing’s biggest moments had a Black person at the center?

Other sports have had such moments, from Doug Williams winning the Super Bowl to Tiger Woods’s first Masters victory to Venus Williams winning Wimbledon. These moments made these sports more appealing to Black people because they saw people who looked like them achieving success at the highest levels.

Racing in the modern era is still waiting for that moment. And for a sport that’s been so traditionally white, that’s been a barrier to Black people becoming fans and feeling welcome, even though we’re 20 years into the 21st Century.

I don’t believe that people in horse racing are plotting to keep Black people out. But what they are doing–relying on networks of people they already know–means keeping mostly white people in the game, particularly at its highest levels. Horse racing needs to change, from the top to the bottom, and it’s racing’s job to do the hard work of stretching beyond its usual networks to recruit Black talent and to create an environment where Black people feel welcome.

How does this happen? With many, many small changes and many, many tough conversations.

In the last year of his presidency, President Obama was on WTF with Marc Maron (a podcast just slightly more successful than JK + 1). He likened the process of change to the steering of an ocean liner and said that the real work “is to make incremental improvements or try to steer the ocean liner two degrees north or south so that, 10 years from now, suddenly we’re in a very different place than we were. At the moment, people may feel like we need a 50-degree turn; we don’t need a two-degree turn. And you say, ‘Well, if I turn 50 degrees, the whole ship turns over.'”

There are ways that racing can change right now, but in the big picture, the type of incremental change described above is also needed. The idea that EVERYTHING needs to change RIGHT NOW isn’t just impractical, it’s impossible. I am much more interested in pursuing real world solutions than I am at screaming into the void.

How do we actually accomplish change? Let’s start by creating a more welcoming environment for people of color. One part of this has to be marketing. Major international brands like McDonald’s, Sprite, and the NBA have figured out ways to tailor their marketing to Black people in a way that is cool but not patronizing. This idea has been around since the 1960s and there’s no reason racing can’t make a concerted effort to invest in this type of plan in a non-cynical way today.

I’ve seen racing do a great job marketing to local colleges in both Lexington and the Capitol region, and I know these efforts have created fans. Why not put some promotional muscle at targeting Black communities, whether via historically Black colleges or other institutions that have significant Black populations. Smart group sales initiatives aimed at such groups can draw Black fans AND help them feel welcome at the track, and not like the only Black face in the crowd.

Other sports have done a great job of celebrating Black success in their sports–Major League Baseball’s various tributes to Jackie Robinson come to mind–and I don’t think we’ve done enough of that in racing. With all respect to the listed sprint stakes at Aqueduct in January, Jimmy Winkfield is a major historical figure in racing, the last Black jock to win the Derby before the sport was segregated. There should be a race at Churchill Downs named for him on the first Saturday in May. That’s the day when the most eyes are watching and therefore the most Black eyes are trained on the sport as well–let’s show all those viewers that the Black contributions to this game are appreciated.

And what about other historical figures like Isaac Murphy or Oliver Lewis? Or even a much more recent figure who experienced terrifying prejudice because of the color of his skin, like Angel Cordero, Jr? Let’s name races for them and spend a lot more time celebrating their stories and openly acknowledging the role that black and brown people have always played and continue to play in the game. There’s a lot more that can be done to honor the past while welcoming the future.

I am a big believer in industry-sponsored scholarships to programs like RTIP in Arizona or the University of Louisville equine business program or the University Kentucky equine sciences program. Today’s students are tomorrow’s executives and Grade I winning trainers. Something that well-meaning people at the highest levels of the game can do right away is to create scholarship initiatives like these–they could change the game forever. And while we’re at it, why aren’t we doing more to recruit young people to industry positions via historically Black colleges?

Last but not least, I want to get down to the everyday of what can be done to make Black patrons feel more welcome. I know that Black people stand out at the track. I’m not the only one who has gotten to play America’s least-fun game: “Is that dude looking at me because he likes my shirt, or because I’m Black?” And I have personally been asked to have my ticket seen approximately 2.7 times as often as my white friends. There needs to be sensitivity training in this area, for ticket takers and ushers. Marketing can help here too by disseminating fan images that include plenty of Black faces.

And, on an individual level, encourage your Black friends to come to the track for a day of socializing and drinking and betting. If you’re an owner, invite your Black friends and acquaintances to get involved in the new filly you bought.

I understand that there is a thin line between being condescending and inclusive, but I challenge people to walk that line. If you see a Black person at the track, say hello, ask him who he likes in the Double. Horseplayers are a special community and anyone can be a part of that.

I think we need more open and honest discourse on these issues from all people–and I highly recommend that it doesn’t take place on Twitter. Horse racing Twitter can be a strange place, fueled by outrage. Throw race into the mix and it’s like lighting a fuse on a powder keg. Let’s have these conversations in the rooms where decisions are made and marketing budgets are set, and in the stands where we’d usually argue over whether or not to include that 20-1 first-time starter with the sneaky work in the Pick 5.

We need fewer statements and more conversations. Between Black people. Between white people. And of course between Black and white people. They won’t always be the most comfortable conversations but that’s OK. It’s only through honest discourse that we can redirect this big, old ship and make the moment I wish for above possible.

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Taking Stock: Being Inclusive in an Exclusive Game

Is it even possible to be inclusive in an exclusive game?

Kudos to Sue Finley and this publication for its series on diversity and inclusion, featuring several notable individuals who’ve made poignant cases for the benefits of opening racing’s upper-echelon doors to Black people, people of color, women and other marginalized groups. However, the ways in which racing has been drifting are going to make this difficult.

Money is power, and if you take away the participation of wealthy foreign stakeholders–South Americans, Europeans, and Middle Easterners–racing in this country is controlled by rich white men (and a smattering of women), most of them well over 50. This is President Trump’s GOP demographic, a group that’s likely to disapprove of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement that’s exploded across the country since the killing of George Floyd and is the reason we’re even discussing race, diversity and inclusion in racing in these pages now.

It’s well known historically that Black people were integral to the development of racing in this country. Black jockeys dominated the first 28 years of the Kentucky Derby, winning 15 times since the race’s inception in 1875. In 1902, Jimmy Winkfield was the last of them to win the race and he later fled the country to ride abroad as Jim Crow laws and the institutionalized racism and segregation of the era proliferated. This was a period during which neo-Confederate statues were frequently erected purely as symbols of white power.

Almost a decade after the last Black jockey won the Derby, the third-place finisher in the 1911 Preakness S. was a stakes winner by the name of The Nigger, a black gelding by the celebrated racehorse and sire Hamburg from the mare Black Venus. Imagine racing’s legacy if he’d won the race, wasn’t a gelding, and became a foundation stallion? Black Servant, a son of the influential sire Black Toney, did become an important sire, but he narrowly lost the 1921 Kentucky Derby to a stablemate named…wait for it… Behave Yourself. This was also the year of the Tulsa race massacre on “Black Wall Street.”

One hundred years later, a lot has changed, but some sentiments remain the same. Though racial and social progress was made throughout the turbulent mid-century civil rights era, Black participation in racing has unfortunately diminished to a paltry level since the days of Winkfield. These days, it’s a Latinx population that primarily services racing as caretakers on farms and tracks as Blacks once did, and Latin jockeys are among the best in the game. Many of them have experienced discrimination along the way, as Angel Cordero, Jr. noted recently in his comments in TDN. They stand to benefit from the BLM movement, which in a manner and scale not seen since the civil rights movement, is pointing out widespread and systemic societal and institutional racism. It’s significant that about 20 jocks took a knee in the paddock at Belmont Park a month ago in a show of solidarity with BLM and the Floyd protestors.

BLM is effecting change, and you’ve seen many examples of this over the last month. NASCAR has banned the Confederate flag and made a notable and unexpected stand supporting Black Lives Matter. Other sports, companies, well-known individuals, and universities have taken a stand as well or made policy changes resulting from the movement’s activism. Mississippi recently retired its Confederate-influenced state flag and the University of Florida did away with its popular “Gator bait!” chant, a local term that has an historical but little-known connection to alligator hunters who used young Black children as bait. Yes, this is true, and I’ve read newspaper clippings from the early 1900s on this.

BLM isn’t a radical or terrorist group, as some “Law and Order” Trump supporters have portrayed it. It’s a movement advocating for equality. Racing should embrace this in a combined statement from its various industry groups and tracks. So far, a smattering of tracks, a few organizations, and some individuals have responded with statements against racism and advocated for diversity and inclusion, but none that I can recall has mentioned Black Lives Matter by name.

I believe that The Nigger’s toxic name (along with his pedigree) has been deliberately purged from The Jockey Club’s online Equineline database. I say it’s “deliberate” because the pedigree of his dam, Black Venus, a foal of 1896, is still in the database, and there are two British-bred horses from the 1950s named Nigger in there as well, but they’re not American-registered and not the responsibility of TJC.

I don’t know when The Nigger was deleted–or maybe he wasn’t ever included online – but that he’s not included is acknowledgment that TJC was embarrassed by a part of its history as the registrar of the breed. Should he have been deleted or not included? I don’t think so. This isn’t the same as dismantling Confederate statues built well past the Civil War era in the early 1900s or the 1950s solely as white power symbols. Those structures were erected to intimidate. The Nigger, on the other hand, exists in American racing history as a stakes-winning foal of 1908. Taking him out of the database obscures the historical fact that someone gave him a name that was acceptable for the time and that’s worth remembering as we ponder commentary on race and diversity, even if hearing of this makes us uncomfortable today.

One hundred years wasn’t that long ago.

Exclusive Game

TJC, which is comprised mainly of rich white men, has taken a leading role over the last decade in addressing issues, including breakdowns and drug usage, that have plagued the image of the game, and it has actively participated through its America’s Best Racing (ABR) initiative to craft new imagery aimed at a younger demographic that takes the focus away from the “degenerates” in the grandstand to the slickness of the clubhouse. The organization and its allies have adopted a “Law and Order” approach to the former by advocating for the federally mandated Horseracing Integrity Act that would address medication issues through a stern central authority, and a “frat-boy bro” approach to the latter through imagery that celebrates the swanky, white, and young fedora-wearing crowd enjoying a day at the races at major tracks.

If this sounds as if racing is getting more exclusive and less inclusive these days, it is. In fact, today there are smaller groups of people controlling larger pieces of the pie and economics plays a big role in this. This type of consolidation is evident in racehorse ownership (partnerships), conditioning (super-trainers), track management (Stronach Group), and the bloodstock industry (big books for elite stallions).

Against this backdrop of a smaller club of more powerful folks, it’s going to be harder for racing to be diverse and inclusive, especially because racing’s leaders and their acolytes, who across the board tend to be younger versions of their bosses, dictate policies meant mostly to preserve or enhance their interests. But sometimes they assume that what’s best for them is what’s in the best interests of everyone in the sport, which isn’t true and has led to some fissures between groups.

Even when racing thinks it’s being edgy and different, it’s frequently not, and it sometimes perpetuates behaviors that aren’t amenable to diversity and inclusion. For example, it seems every major track has had at one time or another some association with Barstool Sports, an irreverent group that appeals to frat-boy culture and unabashedly spouts misogynist and racially insensitive commentary for cheap laughs. This shouldn’t be acceptable, and a Black person or woman executive might have explained this in the boardroom.

Diversity and inclusion can only help racing navigate the future.

Keeneland walked the talk Thursday afternoon. Keeneland’s Trustees, many of whom are TJC members, announced that for the first time in its history a woman, Shannon Bishop Arvin, would be named its CEO at the end of the year to replace the retiring Bill Thomason.

Perhaps there’s hope yet.

Sid Fernando is president and CEO of Werk Thoroughbred Consultants, Inc., originator of the Werk Nick Rating and eNicks.

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