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New Book Chronicles Life Of Sylvia Rideoutt Bishop, The First Black Female Trainer In America

A new book detailing life of Sylvia Rideoutt Bishop, the first Black female Thoroughbred trainer to be licensed in the United States, is now available from author Vicky Moon.

Bishop was one of 17 children born to a West Virginia family whose ancestors were enslaved. Sent to live with a nearby childless couple as a toddler, she was indulged with fancy dresses and one mesmerizing pony ride that changed her life. Her love of horses took her to the Charles Town racetrack at age fourteen to work as a groom, hot walker and then trainer, all the time fighting sexism and racial bigotry against a backdrop of the swirling Civil Rights movement.

She prevailed to break barriers, shatter stereotypes and celebrate countless transforming victories in the winner's circle with many wealthy clients. As a single mother after two failed marriages, financial reality forced her to take on extra work in the shipping department at a nearby Doubleday publishing factory. Never wavering in her passion, she returned to the track to train horses at age eighty. And finally, with little fanfare, she was honored for her pioneering accomplishments as the first black woman licensed to train racehorses in the United States.

This never-before-told story brings to life Sylvia's love of horses and demonstrates her resolve and grit in confronting a litany of obstacles. This included the limited opportunity for an education and the precarious odds of getting her fractious Thoroughbred racehorses to the starting gate when factoring in their health and soundness.

Sylvia' s clients included the late Tyson Gilpin, a Virginia native and former president of the Fasig-Tipton sales company. Their biggest victory came in The Iron Horse Mile at Shenandoah Downs on Sept. 4, 1962. Eddie Arcaro presented the trophy as Gilpin and his children gathered in the winner's circle.

Sylvia Rideoutt Bishop made her mark in the alluring sport of kings long before the tennis-playing Williams sisters or Olympic track star Jackie Joyner ever made the evening news. She traveled the half-mile track racing and fairground circuit in Cumberland, Timonium and Hagerstown Maryland, not far from Washington, D.C.

Sylvia Rideoutt Bishop Had A Way With Horses is available on Amazon and autographed hardback books with free postage are available on vickymoon.com.

Moon is a writer, editor and photographer. She has chronicled the lives of the famous and the not-so-famous, covered major crimes and prominent lives for People Magazine and The Washington Post. She writes a monthly life-in-the-Virginia-countryside column “Over the Moon” for Washington Life magazine. She has reported on hunt balls, steeplechase races, and parties from Palm Beach to Saratoga Springs for Town and Country and Millionaire magazines.

Moon has written about homes and gardens for Veranda and Southern Accents and served as a contributing editor for House and Garden. She appeared on the A&E network's “City Confidential” and served as a producer for Dominick Dunne's “Power, Privilege and Justice.” This is her tenth book, with many of her others involving horses and racing.

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Juddmonte Farms Owner Prince Khalid Bin Abdullah Al Saud Dies

It is with great sadness that Juddmonte announces the death of His Highness Prince Khalid bin Abdullah. He died peacefully on Tuesday, Jan. 12.

One of the greatest ever owner/breeders in the history of the thoroughbred, his famous green, pink and white silks were carried by such immortals as Frankel, Dancing Brave, Arrogate and Enable. His colours were carried to victory by over 500 stakes winners, of which he bred over 440, including 118 Group/Grade 1 winners, of which he bred 102.

Douglas Erskine Crum, CEO Juddmonte, said: “The whole of Juddmonte feels a huge sense of loss. Prince Khalid will always be remembered as a quiet, dignified, benevolent family man, whose horses spoke for him.

“He leaves a legacy that will stand the test of time. His contribution to the development of the thoroughbred will have long-lasting effects.”

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Crotchett To Make Race Riding Debut At Oaklawn After Galloping For Lukas, Catalano

Kaylee Crotchett, an exercise rider at Oaklawn for Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, said Sunday morning that she plans to make her riding debut early in the 2021 meeting that is scheduled to begin Jan. 22.

Crotchett, 22, was raised in Henryville, Ind., about 25 miles north of Churchill Downs, and has been galloping horses for approximately 5 ½ years.

“I'm really excited right now,” Crotchett said. “I'm sure the day of the race, my adrenaline will get to me, my nerves, but this is something I've worked so hard for.”

Crotchett said her first scheduled mount is Mr. Peterkin, a 3-year-old Ghostzapper colt who is winless in six career starts for Lukas. Mr. Peterkin, under Crotchett, worked a half-mile in :53.20 over a fast track Sunday morning in advance of his 2021 debut.

Crotchett said she grew up trail riding and began galloping horses at 16, initially working at a small training center in Indiana before moving to Churchill Downs to work as an exercise rider for trainer Buff Bradley. She spent approximately a year as an exercise rider for Lukas before going to work as an exercise rider for trainer Wayne Catalano early in the 2020 Oaklawn meeting. Crotchett said she reunited with Lukas in September at Churchill Downs.

“Kaylee's ready to ride,” Lukas said Sunday morning. “For two years now, I've been working on the gate with her and she's getting away real well. She's (100) pounds. That helps. She sits a horse beautifully. Again, it will get down to those girls that are light like that, finishing. I told her to get on that mechanical exerciser and get that finish, get strong. I'm going to put her on a couple and I expect her to do well.”

Crotchett said she had hoped to make her riding debut last year, specifically in early May at the end of Oaklawn meeting, but racing's uncertain landscape because of COVID-19 contributed to delaying her debut.

“Things have just been tough with the pandemic and everything, so I just took a step back,” Crotchett said. “I came back and worked for Wayne, and he said he was going to help me. I just kind of sat still and came back here. Hopefully, things will get going and I'll have a good meet.”

Crotchett said she will not have an agent to begin her riding career.

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From Eventing To Mongol Derby To The Racetrack: Young Trainer Neasham Takes Aim At Magic Millions With All-Female Team

Just twelve months after playing a key part in the Magic Millions success of Away Game for Ciaron Maher and David Eustace, Australian-based Annabel Neasham is hoping for a repeat – this time on her own.

Starts are not easily gained in the A$2 million (£1.14m) Magic Millions Two Year Old Classic, restricted to horses bought at the Magic Millions sale, but just six months into her new career as a trainer in her own right, British expat Neasham is set to have two runners at the Gold Coast in Queensland on January 16.

“I have definitely aimed for this,” says Neasham, 30. “There are only 16 starters and there were 1,200 catalogued. To get two in it from such a large pool of horses, we've certainly struck lucky.

“I've got a colt and a filly, Ghostwriter and Queen Of Wizardry. Queen Of Wizardry booked her spot when she won at Eagle Farm on debut last weekend,” she goes on.

“Ghostwriter has had three starts, won his first start at Doomben and although his last start was not ideal, he has been working well and seems to be back on track.”

Neasham, from Croughton in Northamptonshire, spent four years with Maher and Eustace and latterly ran the Sydney arm of their training operation, of which Away Game was a member.

In July she announced she would branch out on her own from a base at Warwick Farm racecourse. The following month her first runner Commanding Missile was also her first winner; she has now trained ten winners at a 28% strike-rate.

With major owners Aquis Farm among her main backers, Neasham has recently taken charge of a number of horses from Chris Waller, including the 2018 French 2,000 Guineas winner Olmedo. Prague, who won a G3 last year under Tom Marquand for Maher and Eustace, has also joined the stable.

Mind you, it wasn't necessarily how she planned things. “The boxes didn't come available 'til June,” says Neasham. “It's very hard to get boxes in Sydney but I knew if I was going to train I wanted to train in the city. Aquis pledged to support me as well so that was a big help.

”I've got just over 40 in work and I've just managed to secure the stables next door as well so will have room for 53. With the sales coming up I will need that little bit of growing space.”

Running her own training operation in New South Wales has not been the culmination of any long-term plan for Neasham, who came into the sport via the showjumping, eventing and point-to-pointing spheres in England.

She went to Australia for a six-month working holiday with Gai Waterhouse and, after joining Maher and Eustace, has not returned.

“I thought I would come out for a year and go back,” she says. “It's a bit surreal really. I am not from a horse background – my Mum is a midwife and my Dad is a lawyer!

“The fact I am training in Sydney probably wasn't scripted but it is where I have landed and I am absolutely loving it. I've always enjoyed being hands on with horses through eventing a lot. I think if I had stayed back home I would have gone down the jumping route.”

Neasham's other big achievement was winning the world's most grueling race, the Mongol Derby, a 1,000km endurance race on horseback across the Mongolian steppe. She completed it in six days after encountering monsoon rain, fog, heat and floods.

“It was an amazing experience,” she recalls. “I was praying I didn't get a sick bug, which a lot of people got. I got good advice from David Redvers to make sure I purified my water and to be careful what I ate. I just drank water and took four cereal bars which lasted me.

“Hopefully I can win a 2,400-meter Derby rather than a 1,000-kilometer Derby one day!”

She is on the right path with Queen Of Wizardry and Ghostwriter helping put her in the spotlight. “It will be good to have runners in the Magic Millions,” she says. “Neither are favourite but the filly [Queen Of Wizardry] is fourth or fifth favourite.”

COVID-19 restrictions may preclude her visiting the Gold Coast, however. “I'm possibly not going to be there because the border may be shut, which would be a shame for my first runners,” she says.

“But I think it's a very open year. It's often ferociously run and there often are horses that don't see out the six furlongs. If they go quick the filly probably won't have the speed to be up on the pace but in that case it wouldn't surprise me to see her storming over the top of them.

“Luke Currie rides Ghostwriter, which is a handy booking because he won on Away Game and has won two of the last three.

“Stephanie Thornton rides Queen Of Wizardry, who is a girls' horse,” she adds. “The filly is owned by Loretta Fung and Lizzie Jelfs, who is an English TV presenter here – and there is a A$500,000 (£285,000) bonus incentive for all female-owned horses, which is split up between the first four to finish.

“So she is trained by a girl, owned by girls and will be ridden by a girl. Hopefully we can be the first all-girl team to win the Magic Millions.”

This feature was originally published by Horse Racing Planet and is reprinted here with permission.

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