The African American Jockey

Later today the 139th running of the Kentucky Derby will take place. Out of the 20 jockeys in the race there will be a woman and an African American, Kevin Krigger. He is the first black jockey to win the Santa Anita Derby in the 78 years of it's history and, on saturday, Mr. Krigger could be the first African American jockey to win the Kentucky Derby since 1902. That distinction is held by one Jimmy Winkfield (who will be featured in a Reverence post very soon).

Get this, the first Derby 13 of the 15 riders were African American, including Oliver Lewis who won the Derby. The fact that blew me away; African American jockeys won 8 of the first 16 and 15 of the first 28 Kentucky Derbys ran in the United States. Shortly after, the Jim Crow laws abruptly halted African American accomplishments across America and African American jockeys were driven from the track.

Today Terence Meyocks, national manager of the Jockey's Guild, estimates that out of 1,000 jockeys in the U.S. 50 are African American.

Mr. Krigger is the first African American jockey to run in the Derby since 2000, when Marlon St. Julien competed finishing seventh. Marlon St. Julien was the first African American in 79 years to compete.

Around 5 PM Saturday I'll be tuned in to watch the most exciting two minutes in sports. I'll be pulling for Kevin Krigger to make history and add to the extraordinary legacy of the African American jockeys before him.

Kevin Krigger will be riding Goldencents at 5-1. Place your bets!