Page 75 - Speedhorse June 2020

W
by John Moorehouse
OMEN
IN RACING
As part of our focus on Women in Racing, we spoke to two jockeys—one current, one former turned trainer—about their time in the sport
Clare Boothe Luce once said, “Because I am a woman, I must make unusual efforts to succeed. If I fail, no one will say, ‘She doesn’t
• In 1991, Julie Krone became the first woman to win a Triple Crown race. She also was the first woman jockey to win a Breeders’ Cup.
• Tami Purcell remains the only female to win both the All American Futurity (in 1997, aboard Corona Cash) and the Champion of Champions (in 1996, on Dashing Folly).
It hasn’t been easy for women to get their shot in the irons. Heck, it took going all the way to the highest court in the land. The Supreme Court ruled in January of 1969 that women were allowed to compete in pari-mutuel races.
As part of our focus on Women in Racing, we spoke to two jockeys—one current, one former turned trainer—about their time in
the sport and the challenges of competing in a sport that, in large part, remains a man’s world.
have what it takes.’ They will say, ‘Women don’t have what it takes.’”
Women have been riding as professional jockeys for close to a century now; Anna Lee Aldred was the trailblazer, receiving her license back in 1933.
Other barriers have fallen in subsequent years:
• •
In 1970, Diane Crump became the first woman to ride in the Kentucky Derby. Tomey Swan established herself as one of the top Quarter Horse jockeys in the country in the 1970s.
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