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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