Kentucky Derby marks 100th anniversary of last Black jockey's victory

Jet, May 20, 2002

One hundred years ago, on the first Saturday of this month, was the last time a Black jockey won the Kentucky Derby.

On May 3, 1902, Jimmy Winkfield won the race aboard Alan-a-Dale and entered the winner's circle at Churchill Downs in Louisville, KY. Winkfield claimed his first Derby victory in 1901 riding His Eminence and still remains one of only four jockeys to win back-to-back Derbys.

Just short of 5 feet tall and never weighing over 115 pounds, Winkfield almost won a third Derby in 1903, but he pulled up too soon and lost by three-quarters of a length.

He was criticized harshly for that loss, which influenced his decision to leave the country soon after. This marked the end of a legacy for successful Black jockeys in America.

In the first Kentucky Derby in 1875, 13 of the 15 jockeys in the race were Black. Black jockeys dominated the Run for the Roses throughout the 18th and 19th centuries; fifteen of the first 28 Derbys were won by Black riders.

Though many speculate why the number of Blacks in the sport declined, to this day there remain few. Two years ago, in the 2000 Kentucky Derby, Marlon St. Julien was the first Black jockey since 1921 to ride in the world's most famous horse race.

However, the late Winkfield's winning ways continued overseas where he established himself as one of the world's greatest jockeys.

In Russia, he won the Moscow Derby four times. Winkfield later raced successfully in Poland, Germany and France. For 20 years, he was the most sought-after and successful jockey in Europe and was earning the American equivalent of $100,000 a year.

In 1921, he married the Russian Lydie de Minkwitz. Their first child, Robert, was born in 1923, and their daughter, Liliane, came a year later. Winkfield bought a three-story home on a farm with training stables in Maisons-Laffitte, a suburb of Paris. In 1930 he retired at the age of 48 after winning some 2,600 races.

Winkfield died at his home near Paris in 1974 at 91 years old. Despite his success he is yet to be inducted into the National Racing Museum Hall of Fame.

Winkfield's daughter, Liliane Casey, of Cincinnati, was a special guest at the recent 128th Kentucky Derby. Casey repeatedly expressed her appreciation for the recognition of her father here in the U.S.

"He had so much fame in Europe and he was recognized so much, he felt he had not been recognized as much by his own country," Casey told the New York Times before the race. "Knowing that it's being done, if he has a way of knowing it, he would be very pleased."