Keeneland's popular Library Lecture Series resumes in May with the first of four public events that celebrate recently published works about Thoroughbred racing whose authors conducted research at Keeneland Library.

Tickets are $20 per event and will go on sale at 9 a.m., Friday, Apr. 21 at Keeneland.com/library. Proceeds from these ticketed events will benefit the Keeneland Library Foundation, which funds Library preservation, education, outreach and access efforts.

The first two installments of the Library Lecture Series will feature books related to the Library's current exhibit, The Heart of the Turf: Racing's Black Pioneers:

• May 11–Katherine Mooney will discuss Isaac Murphy: The Rise and Fall of a Black Jockey
• June 22–Mark Shrager will talk about The First Kentucky Derby: Thirteen Black Jockeys, One Shady Owner, and the Little Red Horse That Wasn't Supposed to Win

The Heart of the Turf: Racing's Black Pioneers offers a deep exploration into the lives of African Americans in racing and their contributions to the Thoroughbred industry. The exhibit, which is free and open to the public, runs through August.

The Library Lecture Series continues with two events in late August and September:

• Aug. 24–Jennifer Kelly will discuss The Foxes of Belair: Gallant Fox, Omaha, and the Quest for the Triple Crown
• Sept. 28–Patricia McQueen will review Secretariat's Legacy: The Sons, Daughters and Descendants Who Keep His Legacy Alive

All programs will be held at the Library from 6:30-8:30 p.m. ET.

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What they both encountered is particularly instructive for us, especially after the sudden and tragic losses of jockeys Alex Canchari a few weeks ago and Avery Whisman in early January. Their deaths serve as a living reminder about the fragile and destructive nature of inner pain. As mourning for the 29-year-old Canchari and 23-year-old Whisman takes its course, perhaps what's helpful at this point is to try and take a step towards making sense of it all. By no means does that guarantee a panacea, but what we do know is that different mediums can help us digest, reflect, learn and process.

Murphy's Weight

First, Mooney's forthcoming monograph entitled, Isaac Murphy: The Rise and Fall of a Black Jockey published by Yale University's Black Lives series, covers fresh ground concerning the life of a rider who transcended race in Jim Crow America as he won impressively against white jockeys at racetracks from New York to Kentucky to California in the 1880s and into the 90s. As Mooney so eloquently and sadly described in her excellent Race Horse Men: How Slavery and Freedom Were Made at the Racetrack (2014), Black horsemen were driven from the sport as new laws were passed affirming the power of white rule. They never returned, but to this day, they have not been forgotten. If you have not read it and you love this sport, you are missing something.

Isaac Murphy: The Rise and Fall of a Black Jockey by Katherine C. Mooney | Yale University Press

This time the author focuses her attention on Murphy, a celebrated athlete who as a household name, inspired people from different racial and socio-economic backgrounds to root for him. That was the public form of his persona, the one where his ability to effectively cross the color line was based in what appeared to be a bottomless pit filled with drive and determination as he won. With a come-from-the-clouds riding style, which reserved his mount's strength until the last possible moment, Murphy's final approach thrilled the masses.

Mooney also gives a window into the private person who rarely gave interviews or left much of a record concerning his health. That might be just as instructive because throughout his life aboard some of the best Thoroughbreds in North America, he continually battled “making weight.”

Tenny with jockey Isaac Murphy | Keeneland Library

It took its toll.

Not just a seasonal rider, Murphy traversed the country working as often as he could under contract for a specific owner, supplemented by freelancing. Though he garnered what today would be the equivalent to million-dollar earnings, he continually scrambled throughout his riding days to go from 140 pounds all the way down to a dangerously low 110.

Mooney tells us, despite his successes, the regularly mentioned three Derby wins stat, et cetera, that Murphy was plagued later in his career by innuendo that he rode under the influence of alcohol. Racing in the 1890 running of New Jersey's own Monmouth Handicap aboard the seasoned mare Firenze as the favorite at 6-5, the pair ended up last with the jockey falling off after he crossed the wire. Shock and awe fell over the capacity crowd and in a subsequent hearing, Murphy explained that he had skipped breakfast that morning, drinking a few milk punches, regularly understood to be medicinal during the age. Later that day, with his wife by his side in the grandstand, he got down ginger ale and mineral water, in what was hardly the stuff for a balanced diet.

Author Katherine Mooney | Christopher T. Martin

Despite his impressive horsemanship, just to get into the saddle took a monumental effort to fight time and his own metabolic rate. Murphy had the desire and knew that back home in Lexington, Kentucky, his family was relying on him to provide. In the end, it was heart failure that ended his life at the age of 35-years-old. The demands of the profession exacted a terrible price. As Mooney prophetically explains, “Jockeys were ultimately dependent on the people that employed them.”

Montano's Stage

Like Isaac Murphy, Robert Montano was born for a stage. As a dancer and actor from the playhouse to the screen, he's worked with the likes of Chita Rivera to Mark Wahlberg. Growing up in Hempstead, New York in the 1970s with parents who dared their kids to dream, one afternoon his mother took the 12-year-old to Belmont Park. She told her son they were there to “pick out tiles for the kitchen floor,” code for a hopeful wagering result. Montano was captivated by the pomp and circumstance. Immediately, seeing the reverence held for the jockey colony, he was hooked.

“Working and learning from those professionals had such an impact on me, and their toughness and discipline set me on a path I am still on today,” he said. “Robert Pineda taught me about balance in the saddle and he really took me under his wing as a teenager, giving me a shot to ride.”

Robert Montano working a horse as an exercise rider | Robert Montano

Montano's ticket to the backside was a neighbor and his wife who both worked at nearby Belmont Park. They got him a job cutting carrots, which is where everyone begins. Eventually, he graduated to exercising riding there and at nearby Aqueduct Racetrack, but the life that was running concurrently with his high school days was anything but normal.

Like every budding apprentice, the fresh-faced young man agonized over his weight. His commitment pushed him to do endless laps around his neighborhood, while later he sweated in the local YMCA sauna clothed in jackets and sweaters, as burly guys looked on in astonishment. Still, he dreamed about donning silks that would make him a full-fledged member of the New York racing colony.

Just like the professional dancer he would become, health became an all-encompassing focal point for Montano. He was tempted though by the darker side of losing weight as he sought out the “Doc” who saw patients near the local Argo Theater. Appetite suppressants were downed and when his art professor father found out, he told his son, “No more, this is not how to pursue your dreams.”

With Pineda serving as mentor, he finally got his first mount in an actual race at the ripe age of 16. It was March 2, 1977. But there was a problem. That morning at Belmont he fell off a horse during training and badly bruised his ribs. At the Emergency Room, he begged the attending physician to patch him up, and pleaded his case with his parents who wore worried looks. Put back together and heavily bandaged, he made it in time for the race, finishing last. “Despite some serious pain, that was a huge moment for me and I loved every minute of it,” he said.

Robert Montano heads to the post | Robert Montano

Montano only rode six other times, never in-the-money, and though time and genetics were against him, those experiences put him on another track. At the age of 20, he earned a scholarship at New York's Adelphi University to enter the world of dance and theater, another place where showmanship is held in high-esteem.

As his new career blossomed, he came across a director who asked him about his first love. “The racetrack,” he said, without hesitation. “You should write something about that experience,” the director told him. So, after years of writing and delving into feelings that he had not touched since those early days, he did.

Robert Montano on the stage at Adelphi University | Robert Montano

This week on the campus of Kean University in Hillside, New Jersey, Montano's SMALL, which premiered at the Penguin Rep Theatre in Stony Point, New York last year, will take the stage. Performing 24 different parts, he will morph and change into the characters that surrounded his life as he pointed towards adulthood. As he says, “SMALL is about my duty to give the audience an authenticity and it is the chance to honor those that are associated with this great sport.”

With a title that is purposely capitalized, Montano's play examines his personal struggles to stay small, as he fought addiction and to find his place in the world. Now a performer of a different sort, he lends his own perspective from the saddle in the form a play. Using the visceral experiences of his youth, SMALL has the opportunity to loom large.

The Fight to Ride

Whether jockeys ride seven races or 7,000, they are bound by the pursuit of a profession that demands abject discipline. While the job offered the opportunity to stoke pure unadulterated talent, both Katherine Mooney's biography of Isaac Murphy and Robert Montano's SMALL, suggest how the challenges aboard a horse are balanced by their love of the racetrack. Lest we forget, sadly Alex Canchari and Avery Whisman's lives ended pursuing passions while trying to cope with inner pain. As those in the irons pass into our memories, we would do well to remember that their struggles are real and not the stuff of fiction. Both of these mediums might be just what we need at this juncture, as they suggest that across a swath of time that the names may change, but what Montano so aptly calls, “The fight to ride,” remains.

Isaac Murphy: The Rise and Fall of a Black Jockey by Katherine Mooney, Yale University Press, 177 pages, photos, appendix, glossary, May 2023.

SMALL by Robert Montano, co-presented by Premiere Stages and Kean Stage, directed by Jessi D. Hill, Saturday, March 18 at Kean University's Enlow Recital Hall, 215 North Avenue, Hillside, NJ 07205.

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Trained by Robertino Diodoro and ridden by Ramon Vazquez, Lone Rock covered the 1 ½ miles on a fast main track in 2:30.52.

Dack Janiel's set the pace, covering the mile in 1:38.90 and maintained the lead until the far turn when Ry's the Guy moved to the front with Lone Rock right behind him. The top two hit the top of the stretch together with Lone Rock going the better of the two and gradually pulling away.

The victory was worth $78,684 and increased Lone Rock's career bankroll to $528.921 with a record of 32-10-3-2. Lone Rock is a 6-year-old Kentucky-bred gelded son of Majestic Warrior out of the Hard Spun mare Ruby Lips.

Favored in the field of seven, Lone Rock returned $3.80, $2.60 and $2.40. Ry's the Guy, ridden by Chris Landeros, returned $4.20 and $3.40 with Portos finishing third under Tyler Gaffalione and paying $3.20 to show.

You're to Blame finished fourth, followed in order by Plus Que Parfait, Dack Janiel's and Jumper.

RAMON VAZQUEZ (Jockey, Lone Rock, winner) – “I got to know him a little last time and I wanted to stay off the horse on the lead in second but in that situation I had to ease back a little bit. I had some traffic in front of me so I had to ease him back. When I hit the far turn and had a lot of horse I knew we would be tough. To win a stakes here Kentucky Derby Week is incredible. That's why we do this, so I'm just really fortunate. It's an amazing feeling.”

ROBERTINO DIODORO (Trainer, Lone Rock, winner) – “A lot of horses can't go that far but he's a pro. He loves to train. The further he trains, the better he gets. He was so relaxed compared to many of those horses and that's what you need when you're going that distance.”

CHRIS LANDEROS (Jockey, Ry's the Guy, runner-up) – “He gave it a good try but he got real tired on me.”

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PPAATH was the subject of a Katie Ritz feature in the TDN in 2020. The nonprofit's founder and co-founder, Nichols and Davis, are working on their script alongside producer James Walton, and say their film is poised to be the first in U.S. filmmaking history led by a Black production team and the first to capture the contributions made and the conflicts faced by Black jockeys beginning in the late 19th Century.

Their story traces the life of Murphy, a legendary jockey and the first-ever inductee into the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame, and says the group, “illuminates and bridges persistent racial divides.”

African American jockeys held places of prominence across the Kentucky Derby's first 27 years, said Chris Goodlett, Dir. of Curitorial & Educational Affairs at the Kentucky Derby Museum. But by the 20th Century, he said, institutional racism and segregation had taken hold.

In June 1890, amid intense racial and political unrest, Murphy was the central figure in the match race, after the owner of Tenny demanded a rematch after his loss in the Suburban.

“With `white' and `colored' signs popping up in response to Jim Crow laws,” said a release from PPAATH, “all eyes were on Murphy and his rival, Ed `Snapper' Garrison. One sealed America's fate for generations to come in a photo-finish race that was dubbed `the greatest in the history of thoroughbred racing' by the New York Times.”

“There's a lot to unpack here,” said Walton. “In 1890, Jim Crow legislation struck a severe blow to horseracing and forced out the clear majority: Black jockeys. One after another, their obituaries then piled up. High-profile Blacks' ability to do what they loved was snatched away as mobs of emboldened whites pushed for segregated tracks. Soup Perkins, who'd won the Kentucky Derby at age 15, drank himself to death by age 31. Tommy Britton committed suicide by swallowing acid. Albert Isom publicly shot himself in the head.”

“The discrimination they faced in everyday life they also faced on the racetrack–confronted with an ideology that tore apart our nation and an entire industry,” said Nichols. “'PHOTO FINISH: The Race of the Century' celebrates one man's ability to beat the odds. Before Jordon, Ali and Owens, there was Isaac Burns Murphy. He was a hero in the eyes of Blacks and unsympathetic whites knew that. He achieved millionaire status and acclaim at a time when others feared for their safety. Yet, here we are today, in 2021…still fearful.”

PPAATH is seeking backers and tax incentives in various U.S. filmmaking hub zones in order to develop a series of films which showcase Black jockeys and pay homage to courageous acts which have gone unrecognized for more than a century. Learn more at PPAATH.org.

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This year, the annual release of a commemorative Maker's Mark® Bourbon bottle in partnership with Keeneland will, for the first time, be three distinct bottles, each with its own label featuring the work of artists Sandra Oppegard, Andre Pater, or Tyler Robertson. The labels depict the pageantry, beauty, and power of Thoroughbred racing, a sport on which Isaac Murphy certainly left an indelible mark.

Murphy is the only jockey to have won the Kentucky Derby, Kentucky Oaks, and Clark Handicap in the same year (1884). He won the Derby three times and was in the first group of jockeys inducted into the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame. He was originally buried in the African Cemetery #2 in Lexington but was later moved to the Kentucky Horse Park where he now lies near the legendary Thoroughbred, Man o' War.

Proceeds from the bottle sales will go to LexArts, greater Lexington's premier cultural development, advocacy, and fundraising organization, to support its initiatives at the Isaac Murphy Memorial Art Garden in Lexington. The Art Garden is the first park in the U.S. to honor African American jockeys, who were the earliest Black professional athletes. Funds from the 2021 bottle series will provide the remaining funding required to realize a permanent art installation by Lexington folk artist LaVon Van Williams, Jr. as well as future programming within the park with an emphasis on the arts.

The bottles are all pre-signed by the artist who created each label along with Keeneland President and CEO Shannon Arvin, Maker's Mark Managing Director Rob Samuels, and one of three active Hall of Fame jockeys who have won the Grade 1 Maker's Mark Mile at Keeneland multiple times: Javier Castellano, Edgar Prado, and John Velazquez.

The three bottles will go on sale Friday, April 2. This begins a three-year series benefiting LexArts initiatives, with the same three artists creating new labels each year for the commemorative release.

“To have the immeasurable support of these two iconic brands, Keeneland and Maker's Mark, is meaningful in so many ways for LexArts and our entire arts community,” said Ame Sweetall, LexArts President and CEO. “The support of the Isaac Murphy Memorial Art Garden this partnership will allow will further engage and enrich the East End community and build upon the early work of those who made the art garden a reality more than ten years ago.”

Maker's Mark and Keeneland have been collaborating on a commemorative bottle release every year since 1997, raising millions of dollars for a variety of worthy causes throughout Central Kentucky.

“Keeneland has long championed the Isaac Murphy Memorial Art Garden and its celebration of the significant contributions African Americans have made to racing,” Keeneland President and CEO Shannon Arvin said. “It is especially gratifying to know that our longstanding collaboration with Maker's Mark will benefit LexArts and ensure this important aspect of history will be preserved for our community and future generations.”

“I'm impressed by LexArts' work to enrich the greater Lexington area through their various initiatives,” said Maker's Mark Managing Director Rob Samuels. “This particular project to enhance the Isaac Murphy Memorial Art Garden is an important and worthy cause, and I'm proud our long partnership with Keeneland is allowing us to support it in such a meaningful way.”

Keeneland, Maker's Mark and LexArts invite the community to bring to life the stories of Isaac Murphy and the many African American horsemen who shaped the future of Central Kentucky's equine industry. To make a financial contribution to the Isaac Murphy Memorial Art Garden, visit https://bgcf.givingfuel.com/immag.

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For the first time, the fundraiser will feature three distinct bottles, each with its own label featuring the work of artists Sandra Oppegard, Andre Pater, or Tyler Robertson. The bottles are all pre-signed by the artist who created each label along with Keeneland President and CEO Shannon Arvin, Maker's Mark Managing Director Rob Samuels, and one of three active Hall of Fame jockeys who have won the GI Maker's Mark Mile S. at Keeneland multiple times: Javier Castellano, Edgar Prado, and John Velazquez.

The three bottles will go on sale Friday, Apr. 2. This begins a three-year series benefiting LexArts initiatives, with the same three artists creating new labels each year for the commemorative release.

“To have the immeasurable support of these two iconic brands, Keeneland and Maker's Mark, is meaningful in so many ways for LexArts and our entire arts community,” said Ame Sweetall, LexArts President and CEO. “The support of the Isaac Murphy Memorial Art Garden this partnership will further engage and enrich the East End community and build upon the early work of those who made the art garden a reality more than ten years ago.”

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See a recap of the first installment and watch a replay here.

The second panel included expertise from Renee Hess, founder and executive director of Black Girl Hockey Club, Ron Mack, founder of the Legacy Equine Academy, and Leon Nichols, CEO and founder of the Project to Preserve African American Turf History. The panel was moderated by The Racing Biz founder Frank Vespe, freelance journalist Teresa Genaro, and NTRA Director of Communications Alicia Hughes.

A few key takeaways from the discussion, with a full replay below:

• Panelists believe the rich history of standout Black jockeys from the early days of American racing like Jimmy Winkfield and Isaac Murphy provides a great basis for bringing Black, indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) back to the sport.

  “Ironically, Thoroughbred racing can really be called the first sport to demonstrate equity and inclusion,” said Mack. “The jockeys I mentioned earlier were not only jockeys, but they were trainers, they were owners. They held power and influence in the culture of Thoroughbred racing, even in the late 1800s. As we honor and celebrate the glory of the past, at the Legacy Equine Academy we're training and cultivating our kids for the future of the sport.”

• Hess's model with Black Girl Hockey Club was really to provide a sense of community to the comparatively few Black fans and participants in ice hockey, though she points out you don't have to be either Black or female to join — you just have to support the mission of including more diverse participation in the sport. Originally, the club began as a fan club and has grown to become a nonprofit that provides scholarships to girls who play in travel teams around the world. Not only is that helping diversify the sport's players, it's bringing fandom to people outside the United States who may not have become familiar with ice hockey otherwise.
• The first step in improving diversity and inclusion, Hess said, is to talk about it. Businesses and organizations within an industry will prioritize something if they believe their consumers value it.

  “Once we utilize our voices and let these organizations know that this is something the masses want to see, I think we'll be able to make these changes and drag these industries kicking and screaming because it is a financially sound decision,” she said. “Because this is the direction other sports are moving into. Our sports need to do the same if they want to remain relevant. We talk about 'growing the game' in hockey, and what better way to grow the game than to include the Black community, the LGBTQ community?”

• Nichols hopes that his project can also grow racing by showing a new community of people that they have heroes in the sport, too. He is part of a group workshopping a screenplay based around part of Isaac Murphy's career, specifically about the famous match race in which he piloted Salvatore against Tenny, which was one of the greatest rivalries in American sports at the time.

  “Reading Isaac's story, one thing you'll learn about him is … he was so inspired to set an example as an African American male in the 19th Century that it drove him to try and rove his equalness and Black excellence,” said Nichols. “Out of that came the match of the century.”

• Mack is hoping to continue building a pipeline from school to racing industry jobs through the Legacy Equine Academy, but said he's not just preparing the students to be grooms or hotwalkers — he's encouraging them and preparing them to become racehorse owners and corporate executives. Not only should it be possible for those students, it should be desirable for racing to see better representation at the higher levels of administration.
• If diversity is important to you but you don't sit at the top of the totem pole in your workplace, Hess said you probably have some influence you can use to prioritize equity. Do you hire interns? Consider looking for them at historically black colleges in addition to the programs you already correspond with. Do you manage your company's newsletter content? There's a chance to acknowledge achievement or history of the company or industry through the work of diverse trailblazers. Another thing she encourages: Keep having conversations about these topics — even though they're probably going to make you uncomfortable sometimes.

  “I do think that when you are a non-Black, non BIPOC person, talking about race can be a little bit uncomfortable,” said Hess, who launched a campaign called Get Uncomfortable to encourage these dialogues. “I'm not 100% on that because I'm Black, but I get the gist that could be the feeling. But it's all about having these uncomfortable conversations … Change is uncomfortable.”

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The featured overnight stakes race on Champions Day, Tuesday, April 27, has been renamed the $120,000 Isaac Murphy Marathon. The 1 ½-mile endurance race for Thoroughbreds age 4 and up was formerly known as the Champions Day Marathon.

Murphy is only the seventh individual to have a Churchill Downs stakes race named in his honor, joining Churchill Downs founder Col. M. Lewis Clark (Clark), former Churchill Downs President Matt Winn (Matt Winn), “My Old Kentucky Home” composer Stephen Foster (Stephen Foster), Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas (Lukas Classic), Churchill Downs all-time winningest jockey Pat Day (Pat Day Mile) and fellow African-American riding great William “Billy” Walker Sr. (William Walker), the leading jockey at six of the track's first 13 meets and winner of the 1877 Kentucky Derby aboard Baden-Baden. More than 50 stakes races are staged at the Louisville, Ky. track annually.

“Churchill Downs strongly believes in preserving and sharing the stories of the African-American jockeys who are an integral part of the legacy of the Kentucky Derby,” said Churchill Downs Racetrack President Mike Anderson. “As we continue to recognize key contributors to our storied history, we believe now more than ever, it is critical to develop new ways to share these stories widely by incorporating them into our Derby Week traditions.

“Since 2015, Churchill Downs has kicked off Derby Week on Opening Night by recognizing William “Billy” Walker Sr. with the William Walker Stakes. This year, it is a privilege to also honor Isaac Murphy by re-naming the Champions Day Marathon to the Isaac Murphy Marathon. It is important to amplify the stories of these great jockeys, to acknowledge the painful truths that led to their exclusion from horse racing in our country more than 100 years ago and to herald their legendary contributions to our sport and to the Kentucky Derby.”

Born Jan. 1, 1861 in Frankfort, Ky., the son of a former slave who was a Union solider during the Civil War, Isaac Burns Murphy made the most of his natural talent to ride Thoroughbreds, and gained fame, wealth and elite social status that was uncommon for an African-American in the 19th century.

Murphy was the first back-to-back and three-time winner of the Kentucky Derby. He rode his first Derby winner in 1884 aboard Buchanan and took back-to-back editions of the race in 1890 aboard Riley and 1891 with Kingman.

As the greatest rider of his generation, he was known for his amazingly high win percentage. When the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame announced their inaugural class in 1955, Murphy was the first jockey inducted into horse racing's Hall of Fame. More information about Murphy is detailed online at https://www.racingmuseum.org/hall-of-fame/jockey/isaac-b-murphy.

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The $1.25-million GI Kentucky Oaks headlines an Apr. 30 card which also includes the $500,000 GI La Troienne S.; $400,000 GII Alysheba S.; $300,000 GII Eight Belles presented by Smithfield; $300,000 GII Edgewood S.; and $250,000 GII Twin Spires Turf Sprint presented by Sysco.

The $600,000 GII Stephen Foster S. anchors a June 26 card which also includes the $250,000 GII Fleur de Lis S.; $250,000 GII Wise Dan S.; and $125,000 GIII Bashford Manor S.

Race to Honor Three-Time Derby-Winning Jockey

The upcoming Churchill spring meet will recognize the legacy of legendary African-American jockey Isaac Murphy with the Apr. 27 running of the $120,000 Isaac Murphy Marathon.

“Churchill Downs strongly believes in preserving and sharing the stories of the African-American jockeys who are an integral part of the legacy of the Kentucky Derby,” said Churchill Downs Racetrack President Mike Anderson. “As we continue to recognize key contributors to our storied history, we believe now more than ever, it is critical to develop new ways to share these stories widely by incorporating them into our Derby Week traditions.

“Since 2015, Churchill Downs has kicked off Derby Week on Opening Night by recognizing William “Billy” Walker, Sr. with the William Walker S. This year, it is a privilege to also honor Isaac Murphy by re-naming the Champions Day Marathon to the Isaac Murphy Marathon. It is important to amplify the stories of these great jockeys, to acknowledge the painful truths that led to their exclusion from horse racing in our country more than 100 years ago and to herald their legendary contributions to our sport and to the Kentucky Derby.”

More information about Murphy is detailed online at www.racingmuseum.org/hall-of-fame/jockey/isaac-b-murphy.

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On the new African Americans in Racing Tour, made possible with support from Churchill Downs and the James Graham Brown Foundation, guests will walk through Churchill Downs Racetrack while making historically significant stops along the way on this 90 minute experience. Through history, including the Jim Crow era that led to the exclusion of Black jockeys from the sport, and to modern times, guests will learn about the profound impact African Americans have made on horse racing from the very beginning. Visitors will hear incredible stories of how 13 of the 15 horses in the first-ever Kentucky Derby were ridden by Black jockeys, and 15 of the first 28 Derby winners were ridden by Black jockeys. This tour is now available Saturdays at 1 p.m. and is $15 per person.

Secondly, the Museum is launching the “Proud of My Calling” experience, a monthly, 60-minute immersive program where visitors are introduced to incredible Black horsemen through costumed actors, historic paintings, photos and objects from the past. Meet greats like Oliver Lewis, Isaac Murphy and Ansel Williamson. Lewis, a Black jockey, rode Aristides to victory in the first Kentucky Derby in 1875. Williamson, born enslaved, became a successful trainer, nabbing wins with horses including Aristides in that inaugural Derby. Murphy, also born enslaved, is considered one of the greatest jockeys of all time, winning three Kentucky Derbys and an estimated 44% of his races. This experience is offered monthly and is $20 per person, starting March 27.

These two exciting new opportunities are part of Louisville Tourism's Unfiltered Truth Collection, which features several local attractions highlighting African American contributions to the city and culture.

In line with the Museum's non-profit mission to engage, educate and excite everyone about the extraordinary experience that is the Kentucky Derby, the Museum has been sharing the important role African Americans have had on the Derby for decades. Since 1993, African Americans in Thoroughbred Racing, a permanent exhibit, has chronicled the impact African Americans have had on the Thoroughbred industry and the Kentucky Derby, and features some of the most significant artifacts in the Museum's collection.
Additionally, the Museum's Education Team teaches thousands of students each year about this important history through field trips and in-school teaching.

Coming in Spring 2021, Kentucky Derby Museum is redesigning and moving its African Americans in Thoroughbred Racing exhibit to a larger and more prominent location within the Museum, as well as expanding the footprint of the exhibit. This will allow the Museum to display more of its collection, add new components, and provide visitors the best experience possible. This exhibit will also feature oral history interviews conducted with Louisville's African American community. This expansion is also made possible through support from Churchill Downs and the James Graham Brown Foundation.

Additionally, a traveling African Americans in Thoroughbred Racing exhibit will be created to travel to museums, community centers, visitor centers and churches.

Jockey Oliver Lewis

Jimmy Winkfield aboard Alan A Dale

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