"Diane Crump, who in 1969 became the first woman to ride professionally in a horse race and a year later became the first female jockey in the Kentucky Derby, has died. She was 77. Crump was diagnosed in October with an aggressive form of brain cancer and died Thursday night in hospice care in Winchester, Virginia, her daughter, Della Payne, told The Associated Press."
"Crump was among several women to fight successfully at the time to be granted a jockey license, but they still needed a trainer willing to put them in a race and then for the race to run. Others were thwarted when male jockeys boycotted or threatened to boycott if a woman was riding. Photographs of Crump's walk to the saddling area at Hialeah show her protected by security guards as a crowd pressed in on all sides."
"Among them were future legends Angel Cordero Jr., Jorge Velasquez and Ron Turcotte, who four years later would ride Secretariat to win the Triple Crown. But other jockeys stepped up, and as the 12 horses made their way onto the track, the bugler skipped the traditional call to the post and instead played Smile for Me, My Diane. Crump, on a 50-1 longshot called Bridle 'n Bit, finished 10th, but the barrier had been broken."
Diane Crump died at 77 after an October diagnosis of an aggressive brain cancer and passed away in hospice care in Winchester, Virginia. She became the first woman to ride professionally in a horse race in 1969 and the first female jockey in the Kentucky Derby in 1970. Crump won 228 races and rode her last race in 1998, a month shy of her 50th birthday. She was among several women who secured jockey licenses but faced obstacles including trainers unwilling to enter them and male jockey boycotts. Photographs of her Hialeah walk show security guards protecting her as a crowd pressed in. Her 1969 Derby mount, Bridle 'n Bit, finished 10th.
Read at www.pilotonline.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]