Author talks impact of African Americans on horse racing in Kentucky

By Matt Cizek. This piece was orig­i­nal­ly pub­lished by The Winchester Sun. 

The Winchester Black History and Heritage Committee always looks for­ward to edu­cat­ing oth­ers on the impact that African Americans have had in Winchester and abroad.

With February being Black History Month and horse rac­ing being a sta­ple of Kentucky cul­ture, Saturday morning’s guest at the Winchester Black History and Heritage Committee’s “Between the Lines” Book Club meet­ing at Clark County Public Library was quite appropriate.

Wallace Howard, a Winchester native and author of “The Untold History From Slave Ships to Horse Racing,” attend­ed the book club to answer ques­tions, pro­vide infor­ma­tion, tell sto­ries and more.

“This is a sto­ry that must be told. There are too many young kids out there in the streets that could ben­e­fit [by] learn­ing about our true his­to­ry,” said Howard, who has spent sev­er­al decades buy­ing, train­ing, and rac­ing hors­es. “Maybe they might want to be like…one of the jock­eys or train­ers, and have a pro­fes­sion they can depend on.”

Howard regaled those in atten­dance with inter­est­ing sto­ries about his time in horse rac­ing, which includ­ed trips to Argentina and sev­er­al oth­er coun­tries, as well as meet­ing a num­ber of celebri­ties such as actor Lou Gossett Jr.

However, he also touched on how he first gained interest.

“I fell in love with the his­to­ry of [African Americans] and the hard­ship they had to go through,” he said. “So, ever since then, I have been involved in the his­to­ry of thor­ough­bred horse rac­ing.” Specifically, Howard high­light­ed to those in atten­dance — and through­out his book — jock­ey Edward D. Brown.

Born into slav­ery in 1850, Brown — nick­named “Brown Dick” after a horse of that era — is an inductee of the United States Racing Hall of Fame.

As a jock­ey, he won the Belmont Stakes — the final race in the Triple Crown — by rid­ing Kingfisher in 1870, only the fourth year of the race.

Later, as a train­er, he helped lead Baden-Baden to vic­to­ry in the third ever Kentucky Derby in 1877, rode by African American jock­ey William Walker.

Other promi­nent African Americans fig­ures asso­ci­at­ed with horse rac­ing that were talked about on Saturday, and fea­tured in Howard’s book, include Alonzo Clayon, Willie Simms, James “Soup” Perkins, Jimmy Winkfield, Oliver Lewis — the first win­ning jock­ey of the Kentucky Derby in 1875, and Isaac Murphy — the first jock­ey to win the Kentucky Derby in 1875.

The ear­li­est African American jock­ey known by name, “Monkey” Simon, is also mentioned.

The infor­ma­tion was met with excite­ment by present mem­bers of the Book Club — Eloise Lynch, Linda Caudill, James “Pee Wee” Robinson, Becky Farmer, Linda Rector, Joyce Morton, Anna Mason, Gralin Menifee, Jacquetta Hudson, and Jane Burnam.

Many stayed after­ward to receive Howard’s autograph.

As for the future, Howard will con­tin­ue to rec­og­nize the impact African Americans have had on horse rac­ing via the cre­ation of the Isaac Murphy Hall of Fame, with its first hon­oree to be rec­og­nized on Saturday, June 8^th, 2024.