Hollie Doyle broke her own record for wins by a female jockey in a calendar year in Britain on Wednesday at Kempton when notching her 117th victory for the season aboard the Ralph Beckett-trained State Occasion (GB) (Iffraaj {GB}) in a nursery handicap.
Doyle broke Josephine Gordon’s record of 106 wins last year, and looks likely to set the benchmark much higher with 2 1/2 months of the year remaining.
Doyle has also won her first group and Royal Ascot races this season, became the first female jockey to win five races in a day at Windsor in August and has picked up a contract as first rider to Imad Al Sagar.
“When I broke the record last year, in the back of my mind I was always thinking about breaking it again this year, as I didn’t want it to be a one-off, so I’m delighted to have achieved that goal,” Doyle said. “When you think that we also missed two months of racing this year [through the COVID-19 shutdown], it is amazing that I have been able to do it so quickly. I want to thank all the owners and trainers that have supported me throughout this year. Without them none of this would have been possible.”
This is the third in a four-part series examining the arrival of female jockeys in American horse racing – why and how they broke in to the sport when they did, and how racing has reacted. In this third installment, we'll learn about the reaction of the racing world to an influx of female jockeys — and the career path women took in pursuit of race riding.
This series is sponsored by the Kentucky Derby Museum, which will open its Right To Ride exhibit on Oct. 16. The exhibit marks the 50th anniversary of Diane Crump's historic ride in the Kentucky Derby in 1970, when she became the first female jockey in the race. You can learn more about the exhibit and access current COVID-19 safety protocols for Museum visitors here.
After Kathy Kusner's success in obtaining a jockey's license, it might have seemed the floodgates should open, and hundreds of women jockeys would appear at the nation's tracks. That isn't what happened, and there are several reasons why. The first, and easiest, is that owners and trainers of the day continued to flout the federal requirements of the Civil Rights Act. Men believed that racing was still such a patriarchy that women could basically be ignored. Perhaps women at that time were so used to being blocked that many of them felt it was fruitless to even try.
Although the Civil Rights Act is a federal law, and a judge had decided that Kusner must be granted a license, she still had to face the members of the male-dominated racing world. As such, the opinions of male jockeys are worth noting.
Nick Jemas, the national manager of the Jockeys' Guild, told The Chicago Sun in 1968, “[The racetrack] is no place for a woman.” An unidentified rider said, “It is a man's game and that's the way it should stay.”
The News Leader reported that several of the Laurel jockeys said it would be a great idea. “It would add some color to racing,” said jockey Bill Passmore. Another rider, Phil Grimm, told the Star, “I've seen a lot of girl exercise riders. They are good and I don't see why Kathy wouldn't be a good jock.”
Unfortunately, the negativity from the male jockey colony sometimes escalated past mere verbal posturing. Jockey Penny Ann Early received a provisional license in 1968, but a jockey boycott over her anticipated ride forced Churchill Downs to cancel racing for two days. It is worth mentioning that many of the fans booed the boycotting male jockeys with taunts of “chicken.” At Diane Crump's first professional race in 1969 she required two armed guards to escort her to the track.
If you have followed the career of Hall of Fame jockey Bill Hartack, you are correct in assuming he would have an opinion on the matter.
“I think women should get a chance to ride,” Hartack wrote in the Dec. 13, 1968 issue of Life magazine. “It's a matter of principle. Women have legal rights, probably too many, but they've got them, and that's all there is to it.
“As a group, I don't think their brains are as capable of making fast decisions. Women are also more likely to panic. It's their nature.”
Hartack's comment harkens back to the late 18th century when progressive scientists embraced phrenology, which included the belief that intelligence could be predicted by head shape and size. Male voters embraced that theory and used in in their crusade to keep women from voting. (History does, in fact, repeat itself.)
If there was so much pressure to keep them out of the sport, why then did women decide to complicate and even risk their lives by going against the odds to ride racehorses? Over the last decades some of the most prominent female jockeys have told their stories. What prompted them to go into racing?
A quick study of the biographies behind the biggest names reveals that almost all female jockeys were introduced to horses (not necessarily horse racing) at an early age.
Although jockey/journalist Donna Barton-Brothers' route should, to the casual observer, seems a fait accompli, Donna resisted the pull of the racetrack. Her mother is famed female jockey Patti Barton, the first woman to win more than 1,000 races. Donna's brother and sister were both jockeys, but Donna only started grooming horses as a way to make money in college. Grooming led to galloping, and galloping to riding.
Julie Krone is America's winningest female jockey, with earnings over $90 million. When Julie was only six years old her mother permitted her to ride her pony several miles away from home. She disliked anything that took her away from horses. When her parents divorced she convinced her mother to spend spring break at Churchill Downs, and Julie convinced Clarence Picou to hire her to do just about anything. Her focus was on becoming “the greatest jockey in the world.”
Rosie Napravnik, winner of over $70 million, was surrounded by horses from birth. Her father is a farrier and her mother trained event horses. By age seven she was riding in pony races, and it was around that time she began dreaming of becoming a jockey.
Sandy Schleiffers (left) and Penny Ann Early (right) at Hollywood Park in 1969
Jockey Diane Nelson pleaded with her parents for a horse or a pony for as long as she could remember. When her mother asked Crump about her college plans, she replied she was only interested in a career that involved horses. Jill Jellison learned to ride when she was three years old and was galloping racehorses by age 14.
Diane Crump, the first woman to ride as a licensed jockey, and the first woman to ride in the Kentucky Derby, was first introduced to horses at age seven, when she rode a pony at a carnival. She began taking riding lessons at age seven, and was licensed to gallop racehorses at age 16.
The above examples reinforce that women generally don't learn about becoming a jockey at the high school career fair; they are exposed to it at a very early age.
Although Kathy Kusner's victory was profound in that it enabled women to ride professionally as jockeys, and Diane Crump's appearance in the Kentucky Derby proved that women jockeys were no fluke, they still had to overcome a public perception that at times tended to ignore their considerable riding abilities. Media depictions of early female jockeys encouraged this, focusing on the riders' emotions somewhat more than they did with men.
Columnist Bill Braucher of The Miami Herald quoted Crump as saying after her first race: “Wasn't that wonderful? Everyone was so nice to me I could almost cry.”
Braucher finished his column with the quote and a comment – “Just like a girl.”
Undated image of jockey Mary Bacon
Braucher was far from alone in his portrayal of the first women jockeys. They were frequently presented more as novelties and not as serious athletes. In 1970 Judy Barrett had become the first British woman to be licensed to ride racehorses in America (women were not permitted to professionally ride in England until 1972). In a British newspaper, the Saturday Titbits (yes, the spelling is correct. Perhaps compare it to a 1970s hypersexed version of the National Enquirer) referred to her blossoming race career in the United States with an accompanying picture of her in a miniskirt, complete with comments about her hair color and the descriptors “lissome,” and “shapely.” There was no mention of her race record, riding ability, or overall horsemanship. That “lissome” individual eventually left racing to become a Thoroughbred breeder, and is one of the most successful breeders in Pennsylvania, twice winning the Pennsylvania Horse Breeder's Association's Breeder of the Year Award.
“Women not only had to work harder to get mounts, they had to fight the conscious efforts of the media to keep gender at the center of the argument,” said Jessica Whitehead, curator of exhibits like Right to Ride at the Kentucky Derby Museum. “No matter the talent, there was an enormous amount of public perception for these women to subvert.”
Our first assumption is that men were the only ones to ignore female riders' capabilities. However, the aforementioned article in the Saturday Titbits was written by Jane Goldstein. Later, she penned an article about female jockeys in Turf and Sport Digest titled “Move Over Billie Jean.” In that article she made a coarse comparison between jockey Julie Krone and Elizabeth Taylor, noting that Crump was “hardly a Liz Taylor type,” noting Taylor's midriff bulge and increasing number of husbands. She also related how “women everywhere were beginning to challenge their prescribed role as the weaker sex.” At the same time, we can look at Goldstein's writing style in much the same way we assess the evolving national attitudes toward racing. Her article went on to quote Lou Cunningham, then publicity director at Atlantic City Race Course. He said, “One of the problems with women jocks, generally, I think, is that a lot of girls ride and are terribly interested at first, but then find out how rough a sport this is and get discouraged by the brutal workload. A lot of them disappear from the scenes.”
One could easily read Cunningham's comment as blatantly sexist. Perhaps it was. However, there is no denying the high attrition rate in the profession of professional jockeys among both men and women.
By the early 1970s the women's movement was at full speed. We began to see women advancing in many different sports. And yet, they continued to struggle with the perception that they were a novelty. Was it only male writers and sportscasters to blame? After her very public thrashing of Bobby Riggs in 1973, tennis superstar Billie Jean King started her own sports magazine titled womenSports. The magazine was intended to be a Sports Illustrated for women. And yet King's new magazine still pandered at times to the prurient interests of men. When jockey Mary Bacon was pictured in her racing jodhpurs and spurs with her polka-dot bikini underwear visible underneath, female readers were irate.
“Now this is exactly the kind of sexist shit that I've always objected to in the likes of Sports Illustrated,” wrote a reader from New Hampshire. “Why does she have to be pictured as a piece of ass on your contents page? Please try to get away from this approach.”
Billie Jean King's magazine is proof that these were transitional times, with both men and women adjusting to women's changing roles.
Not all the female athletes embraced this more radical new brand of outspoken feminism. Said softball player Joan Joyce in 1974: “I've pretty much done what I wanted my whole life, so I don't need feminism.” Or as jockey Robyn Smith said in 1972: “I'm not trying to prove anything as a female jockey. I do it because I enjoy it so much, and I think people should do whatever makes them happy.”
Smith makes a good point, but Kathy Kusner made the same point prior to her trial, and it was Kusner's bold step that enabled Smith to make that choice to do what made her “happy.”
David Beecher has a master's degree from Shippensburg University and a PhD from Penn State, where he is currently a lecturer. Dr. Beecher's research and teaching interests are American history with an emphasis on Early American and Civil War History. His dissertation explained the role of Thoroughbred racing in the Antebellum South.
This is the second in a four-part series examining the arrival of female jockeys in American horse racing – why and how they broke in to the sport when they did, and how racing has reacted. In this second installment, we'll learn about Kusner's court fight to get a jockey's license. You can find the first installment in the series here.
Nov. 22, 1967 began like any other day for the stewards at Laurel Race Course. They fully expected to go about their usual business of reviewing applications, making rulings and attending to miscellaneous administrative details. Partway through the meeting, their role as stewards changed forever. Kathy Kusner, a medal-winning member of the United States Equestrian Team, dropped a bomb in their laps; she presented them with an application to compete as a professional jockey in horse races. Men who, until that point, fulfilled their roles in relative anonymity were thrust — most unwillingly — into a very public discussion about the future role of women in horse racing.
Even Kathy Kusner, in relating her feelings about that time, felt conflicted. As she told The Baltimore Sun, “This is no great crusade. I just want a license.”
And yet, years later in a phone interview she recognized that her application represented something far greater. She stated, “This issue is bigger than me,” evidence she recognized that her application may have started out as a simple application for a license, but quickly blossomed into something far greater.
By the 1960s, women had been involved in horse racing for decades. Their roles included grooms, hot walkers, and exercise riders. There were several examples of women as successful owners, however Mary Lou Whitney and Lucille Markey (note that at the time she was almost always referred to as Mrs. Gene Markey) cannot be considered representative of a repressed group of women, as their fortunes essentially purchased their rights to participate in horse racing. Grooms, hot walkers, exercise riders — no jockeys.
As a result of the Civil Rights Act and an overall increase in women's pushback against the societal status quo of women's role in the home and workplace, the timing was suitable for women to break into the role of professional jockeys. However, someone had to be first.
Kusner had been a successful member of the equestrian community for years. As she enjoyed her public success over jumps, she began to ponder an additional career in flat racing. Although she had already established herself in the world of show jumping, a field heavily dominated by men, she did not consider herself a groundbreaker or a rebel. She patiently continued to wait for another woman to apply for a racing license.
Her application probably created pure terror in the minds of the stewards. As noted by The News Leader, J. Fred Colwill, the steward who represented the Maryland Racing Commission, “was obviously shaken by the show of Woman Power and attempted to fend it off with a number of technicalities which were promptly batted down by Kusner's Attorney Audrey Melbourne.” Melbourne was a formidable presence in her own right, and was later named the first full-fledged female judge in Prince George's County. In a bit of foreshadowing of how the American media would cover Kusner's fight, Morris Siegel, of the Washington Star referred to Melbourne as “her lady lawyer, naturally.”
The initial response to Kusner's application involved some legal tap-dancing about who should, in fact, be the recipient of the application. Colwill and the other stewards wanted nothing to do with this potential controversy. At first Colwill attempted to use various technicalities to refuse acceptance of the application, but Kusner's attorney adroitly batted them aside. At that point Colwill changed tactics, stating that the application instead had to be submitted to James Callahan, the secretary of the Maryland Racing Commission. Unfortunately for Colwill, Callahan chose that particular moment to walk into the meeting. Melbourne then attempted to hand Callahan the application. Colwill, in what may in hindsight be perceived as a Freudian slip of how they viewed the application, shouted, “Don't touch it! It is an application by a girl for a jockey's license!”
Callahan responded quickly, and informed Melbourne and Kusner that the application had to be presented to the Chairman of the racing commission. Who should walk into the meeting but D. Eldred Rhinehart, the Chairman of the Commission. The application couldn't be kicked upstairs any further, and Rhinehart told Kusner the application would be reviewed at the next meeting of the commission.
Next, the racing commission attempted to refuse her qualifications based on her ability. The stewards made Kusner gallop horses for them, an ordinary requirement that typically weeded out riders who lacked the qualifications to safely ride a powerful Thoroughbred. However, the review process is highly subjective, and after Kusner's demonstration, the stewards presented concerns about Kusner's riding that were spurious at best.
Some of those issues the commission raised included examples of a BFOQ (Bone Fide Occupational Qualification) which skirts Title VII requirements for equality in the workplace. BFOQs means there are times when sexual preference in hiring is acceptable, even expected, such as hiring men to model men's clothing. Some of the objections they raised were that she wasn't “strong enough,” or that she “bounced” too much in the saddle. However, testing from the starting gate needed the approval of only the head starter, in this case, Eddie Blind.
When tested from the starting gate, Kusner passed with flying colors. Blind said, “I've seen all of 'em in my forty years — Arcaro, Atkinson, Longden, Shoemaker, Culmone — and none of 'em, at her stage, got out of there any better.”
Other objections included a fraught discussion regarding where Kusner would change into her silks. She responded by stating she would be happy to change in a broom closet; she expected no special treatment.
What other arguments might the commission bring to the fore? Well, Kusner was still an amateur; the Olympics had not yet relaxed their standards on professional participants, which meant she could not ride horses for pay without jeopardizing her amateur status and Olympic eligibility. So, the commission argued that since she would essentially be riding for free, she would be taking the place of a hard-working male jockey who needed the income – at a time when the cultural norm was for men to be the sole breadwinners in their family.
To that argument Kusner replied that she would donate her winnings to the United States Equestrian Team. When the stewards watched her ride, Colwill decided that she was less than proficient in her riding ability, stating, “(Kusner) did not display the ability to ride with professionals in races.”
Kathy Kusner leaves the scales after the Rose Tree Ladies Plate in Pennsylvania
Kusner's attorney realized that these shenanigans with the racing commission had to end, and took the commission to civil court over what she believed was a Title VII violation. Melbourne argued that the Maryland Racing Commission had willfully ignored all arguments presented regarding her client's ability and had acted in a manner that was “arbitrary and capricious Kusner, who the Maryland Racing Commission believed lacked the ability to ride in a race, could not attend the hearing regarding her application. She was in New Jersey training with the United States Equestrian Team in preparation for the upcoming Olympics.
“When we spoke with Kathy during the development of this exhibit, one thing was very clear: Kathy had no ego getting in the way of her fight, she was just doing what she believed was right,” said Jessica Whitehead, curator of exhibits like Right to Ride at the Kentucky Derby Museum. “No conscious feminism, no explosive righteousness, just capable Kathy ready to do what it took to do what she loved.”
At the trial to determine if Kathy Kusner could be granted a license to ride as a professional jockey, Circuit Judge Ernest A. Loveless took less than five minutes to reach his decision. He found that the Maryland Racing Commission had acted in a prejudicial manner and had based their decision solely on the fact that Kusner was a woman, and said, “the Stewards had disregarded normal procedures and had set up a special set of standards as to her riding ability.”
The regulatory body doubled down on its objections, issuing the following statement in response to the judge's decision —
“Upon the order of the Circuit Court of Prince Georges County, which substituted its judgement for that of the commission and stewards who are familiar with the qualifications of jockeys, the racing commission this date will issue a jockey's license to Kathryn H. Kusner.”
There are two ways people behave. The first is de jure, meaning according to the law. The other is de facto, meaning how people act regardless of the law. A de jure interpretation means that regardless of someone's personal beliefs, women will be permitted to ride racehorses. A de facto response means that, no matter what Judge Loveless decided, commissions, licensing bodies, owners, and trainers could all make it extremely difficult for women to be granted licenses.
Unfortunately, the world would have to wait to see Kathy Kusner enter her first race as a licensed jockey. In November 1968 her mare, Fru, fell at a hurdle at during a jumper class at Madison Square Garden and Kusner broke her tibia, requiring months of convalescence. The honor of first female professional jockey to ride in a race would fall to Diane Crump, who in February 1969 made the entrance of women into racing official. Kusner would have to wait until August of 1969.
A victory, to be sure. At the time the United States (as well as the rest of the world) was in the midst of a social upheaval where we were digging deep into long standing beliefs on race, sex, and the individual's role in society. Even the media found itself reevaluating how it presented stories. Take note of the words used in various newspapers to describe America's newest licensed jockey. Articles were littered with such descriptors as “lissome,” “petite,” and “attractive.” The Ottawa Journal, in reporting her court victory, noted Kusner was wearing a “violet plaid dress and pink shoes.” Unfortunately, we shall have to leave it to the reader's imagination as to what the men in the courtroom were wearing.
David Beecher has a master's degree from Shippensburg University and a PhD from Penn State, where he is currently a lecturer. Dr. Beecher's research and teaching interests are American history with an emphasis on Early American and Civil War History. His dissertation explained the role of Thoroughbred racing in the Antebellum South.
Fearless female jockeys and their journey to break down barriers in Thoroughbred racing take center stage in the Kentucky Derby Museum's new exhibit, “Right to Ride” opening October 16th. Join us as we celebrate Diane Crump making history 50 years ago as the first female jockey to ride in the Kentucky Derby. “Right to Ride” puts a spotlight on the stories of female jockeys, from trailblazers like Diane Crump, to modern day jockeys like Rosie Napravnik and Donna Barton Brothers.
In conjunction with the Paulick Report, the Kentucky Derby Museum is sponsoring a four-part series examining the arrival of female jockeys in American horse racing – why and how they broke in to the sport when they did, and how racing has reacted. The first installment, available here, examines the historical context for the start of Kathy Kusner's legal fight to be allowed to ride races.
Female jockeys of the 60s and 70s had one thing in common: they just wanted to ride horses. But they faced gender discrimination and rules that didn't allow for them to do what they loved. This exhibit centers around their stories of fighting for their Right to Ride in Thoroughbred racing. Between October 2019 and March 2020, the Museum's team amassed over 20 hours of oral history interviews with female riders who had an impact on American horse racing. The interviews form the centerpiece of the exhibit.
Accompanying the oral history footage are artifacts, photographs, and print media that provide deeper engagement with the personal careers of women in the saddle and the era which made their breakthroughs possible.
The exhibit features a retro 1960s and 70s-inspired motif that encourages guests to travel back in time to the era when women all over the United States were breaking out of the domestic sphere and into the workforce. The design includes wood paneling, mid-century modern style, and a retro kitchen, complete with an avocado green refrigerator. This kitchen is a place to discover stories in the exhibit, but also symbolic of what female jockeys went through. A handful of the jockeys recall having phrases yelled at them, like, “Get back in the kitchen!”
“This is a ground-breaking exhibit for the Kentucky Derby Museum with regards to the scope and stylized experience of feeling as if you are stepping back in time to relive these moments,” said Patrick Armstrong, Kentucky Derby Museum President and CEO. “These female jockeys fought so hard to not only raise the glass ceiling in their sport but to break through it. We are proud to tell their stories.”
“We are excited to honor these trailblazing women riders during the centennial of Women's Suffrage,” said Jessica Whitehead, Kentucky Derby Museum Collections Manager. “Their stories of dedication, perseverance, and remarkable skill reflect the same belief that all powerful women throughout history have had: that women were meant to contribute meaningfully to all facets of American public life. By pursuing their love of riding, these female jockeys defied expectations and proved themselves to be wonderful riders capable of competing against men at the highest level. They can be an inspiration to all of us to follow our hearts and do what we love.”
Clips of interviews with the female jockeys and pictures of the exhibit and its features may be used by media members with “Credit: Kentucky Derby Museum.”
Exhibit highlights include:
-Oral history theatre screen featuring high definition video selections from over 20 hours of exclusive interviews with trailblazing female jockeys
-Artifacts tracing the story of the first American female jockeys, such as Diane Crump's riding boots, Sandy Schleiffers' Jockeys' Guild ring, and the Barton family scrapbook
-Treasures from personal collections, including Patti “P.J.” Cooksey's gear from the 1984 Kentucky Derby and Rosie Napravnik's 2012 and 2014 winning Kentucky Oaks trophies
-Newspaper clippings and cartoons that depict how female jockeys were portrayed in the media
Exhibit runs through August 2021. Guests can experience “Right to Ride” with a general admission ticket. Tickets are $16 for adults, $14 for age 65+, $8 for children (ages 5-14). Children under five are free.
A ribbon cutting will be held October 16 at noon in front of the exhibit, with legendary female jockeys on hand to help celebrate.
