Afterward, travellers can visit The Heart of the Turf: Racing's Black Pioneers, a new temporary exhibit at Keeneland Library, which is also free and open to the public. The image of Champagne flutes, extravagant hats and handbags that cost more than some people's rents can lead to the perception that Keeneland is inaccessible, but the public can watch the thoroughbreds train from 06:00 to 10:00 every morning for free. "My family couldn't go to an extravagant (horseracing) event like that." "It was financially out of reach," she said. She was awarded a scholarship from the Legacy Equine Academy to pursue her veterinary training and received it at Keeneland, the famous horse racing track and National Historic Landmark – a place she had only seen on TV despite living in Lexington. Growing up, Stroman's church was next to a horse farm, and she remembers reaching through the fence to pet the animals' velvety muzzles and feel their warm breath on her hand. Another graduate of the Legacy Equine Academy, Haivan Stroman, is on a similar career path at Murray State University in western Kentucky. Thanks in part to a scholarship from the Legacy Equine Academy, the 19-year-old is studying pre-veterinary medicine at Western Kentucky University. "My eyes were glued the entire time, and it made me realise that caring for animals and helping them get back to the healthiest state they can be is what I want to do as a career." "We went to the Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital and watched surgery on a horse," she said. Maya Robinson was among the first to complete the programme and remembers a pivotal moment that helped decide her career path. Through partnerships with local private horse farms, aspiring equestrians get hands-on experience that teaches them how to safely interact with a temperamental 1,200lb thoroughbred that's stronger than a Kentucky Derby mint julep. Among them is Williamson and Lexington jockey Jimmy Winkfield, the last African American jockey to win the Kentucky Derby (19).īut the programme goes well beyond field trips. To ensure the academy's predominantly Black participants are connected to their heritage, they tour Lexington's International Museum of the Horse, home to the Black Horsemen of the Kentucky Turf exhibit that highlights the nearly forgotten achievements of Black horseracing trailblazers. "When we went out back to play football or baseball, we didn't know we were playing on hallowed ground," Mack said. ![]() ![]() Renowned Black equestrians made history on that track, and many lived in the surrounding neighbourhood. He didn't know it at the time, but that circle was the defunct Kentucky Association Race Track, Lexington's premier racing venue from 1828 to 1933. Yet, with the rise of Jim Crow laws that enforced racial segregation in the post-Reconstruction South, Black jockeys were forced off horses and into barns as caretakers and manual labourers. Son of a former enslaved person, Murphy became a three-time Kentucky Derby winner between 18 and was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. ![]() The exhibit also highlights the remarkable story of Isaac Burns Murphy. Lewis was far from alone: 12 of the 15 jockeys at the first Kentucky Derby were Black, and in the race's first 28 runnings, African American jockeys won 15 times. Visitors learn that Oliver Lewis, the winning jockey of the inaugural Kentucky Derby in 1875, was Black, and his horse's trainer, Ansel Williamson, was a Black man born into slavery. "The Kentucky Derby started with the direct contributions of African American horsemen," Greg said.Īt the Kentucky Derby Museum in Louisville, a tour (which also covers the adjacent Churchill Downs racetrack) reveals the proud legacy of Kentucky's Black equestrians. In fact, in the latter half of the 19th Century, when horse racing was one of the most popular sports in America, African Americans were considered some of the best horsemen in the world, a fact that has long since been forgotten or erased. ![]() Today, there are few African Americans involved in the US' horseracing industry, but they once dominated the sport, working as jockeys, trainers, breeders and grooms.
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