The first thing I remember wanting to be when I grew up was a jockey. Well, that obviously didn’t happen, but I wish there was a “fantasy hockey” camp, similar to the one they have for baseball. He would be the first to sign me up!

Being a jockey was not a traditional career for a woman when I was growing up, and it still is today. About 10% of professional Thoroughbred jockeys are women; the Department of Labor defines a non-traditional field for women as one in which 25% or fewer of the employees are women.

As in other male-dominated fields, pioneering women in racing faced many challenges. The first female jockey to participate in a pari-mutuel race was Diane Crump, in February 1969 in Hialeah, but she was not the first to try. When Penny Ann Early attempted to enter three races at Churchill Downs in 1968, she was prevented from participating because the other jockeys boycotted the races. Barbara Jo Rubin faced not only boycotts but also bricks being thrown through her trailer window when she entered a race at Tropical Park in January 1969. However, Rubin became the first female jockey to win a race. on February 22 of that year when he won at Charles Town. Rubin was forced to retire about a year later due to injuries; however, in her brief career of 89 races she won 22 times and won 20 more times. Diane Crump made history again in 1970 when she became the first woman to ride in the Kentucky Derby. She won over 230 races before retiring in 1985.

Although the number of female jockeys is still quite low, they compete in a very different environment than pioneering female jockeys. The first women jockeys faced prejudice and hostility from their male colleagues, who did not want women to compete against them. The men sometimes cut them or committed other violations, which were ignored by the career officers. They would even cut them down with their whips! (The irony of this is that one of the concerns of the male cyclists was that they felt the racing was too dangerous and that the women would get hurt.)

Diane Crump was invited to compete in a match race in Puerto Rico. The rider riding against her did his best to knock her off her mount, even grabbing the cloth of her saddle, pulling her foot out of the stirrup, and grabbing her reins. Crump fought back by hitting him over the head with her whip, but she ended up winning the race by a length. However, the women in the crowd cheered Diane, cursed, and threw rotten tomatoes at the male jockey.

The first female jockeys also faced opposition from the wives of the jockeys, who were uncomfortable with the women seeing their men in various states of undress, even though the changing rooms were separate. In fact, there were no women’s changing rooms: women often had to change in horse trailers and couldn’t even shower until they got back to their hotel rooms at the end of the day.

Getting good mounts was also a challenge, as many owners and trainers did not want their horses ridden by a woman. Riders were sometimes pressured into exchanging sexual favors in exchange for a mount. When they did get mounts, they were often harassed on the track by fans or “won” by being pushed in the saddle by trainers.

The tide began to turn in the 1970s at the small race tracks of the East, the “minor leagues” of racing, when the dedication and work ethic of women cyclists stood out against those of men. Women began to gain acceptance, and to gain more and better mounts throughout the country.

The most successful female jockey is Julie Krone. He began his racing career in 1981 and won 3,454 races before retiring in 1999. At the time of his retirement, he had earned more than $81 million in prize money and ranked 16th in earnings on the all-time list for all cyclists. She retired in 2002 and continued to win, finishing her career with 3,704 wins and more than $90 million in earnings. In 1993, Krone became the first woman to win a Triple Crown Race, when she rode 13-1 Colonial Affair to victory in the Belmont Stakes. She is the only woman to win a Breeder’s Cup race. She accomplished the rare feat of riding six winners in one day. She is the only female cyclist inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame, inducted in 2000.

Krone “disproves” the idea that women were not tough or strong enough to handle huge animals in a dangerous sport. At 4’10” and 105 pounds, she was small even by jockey standards. Yet her size didn’t stop her from winning races, coming back from career-ending injuries, or picking fights and wrestling matches. free with male riders who had wronged her.

Following in the lead of Krone and other pioneering female jockeys, more and more women are competing successfully and facing far less prejudice and resistance than women did in the early days. (Though it still happens.) On March 26, 2009, young jockey Maylan Studart won her 40th race with a win at Aqueduct, moving from trainee to journeyman. Three of the seven horsemen she defeated that day were women! Aqueduct currently has five female jockeys competing at the track. John Lee of the New York Racing Association stated that “I don’t think we’ve seen that many talented women racing here at one time. And when they’re racing in New York, they’re racing in the major leagues.” “

I look forward to seeing many more women compete as successfully as jockeys. (And I’m still looking forward to that fantasy hockey camp!)

© Koval Associates LLC