Why Are There No Female Jockeys In The Kentucky Derby? 2023

Why Are There No Female Jockeys In The Kentucky Derby?

Why Are There No Female Jockeys In The Kentucky Derby
Diane Crump made history in 1970 when she became the first woman to compete in the Kentucky Derby. The Kentucky Derby is one of the few professional sports in which women and men compete head-to-head against one another. However, following Crump’s historic ride, the sport has not undergone the type of profound transformation that many followers of the sport had hoped for.

There are still an overwhelming majority of men in the jockeying profession, and it is much more unusual to have women competing in a Triple Crown race. This year’s running of the Kentucky Derby will not include any female jockeys. Sadly, this kind of thing happens all too frequently. There have only been a total of six women, including Crump, who have competed in the illustrious “run for the roses,” as pointed out by Paul von Hippel, Katherine Keyes, and Caroline Rutherford in a piece of commentary published on CNN.

The last woman to ride in the Kentucky Derby was Rosie Napravnik, who finished in ninth place in 2011 and in fifth place in 2013. Napravnik holds the distinction of being the only woman to compete in all three of the Triple Crown races. She has been retired for the past three years and will be attending this year’s Kentucky Derby to witness Girvin, a horse that she and her husband have been training together, participate.

This implies that there has not been a single woman competing in the main event at Churchill Downs in the last four years.
Evork Djansezian/Getty Images Image credit: Sport/Getty Images This is strange for a number different reasons, as the CNN opinion piece points out.
Jockeys are among the smallest and lightest athletes because they need to be so that the horse can race without carrying a significant amount of extra weight.

The horses who compete in the Kentucky Derby must carry a total weight of 126 pounds, which includes approximately 7 pounds of equipment. That limits the weight of rides to no more than 119 pounds. The following is an excerpt from the article: “There are 5.2 million women in the United States between the ages of 16 and 30 who weigh less than 120 pounds, compared to just 800 thousand males – this means that jockey-weight women outnumber jockey-weight men by a ratio of seven to one.” An increase in the number of women participating in the sport would not only be a step toward achieving gender equality, but it would also help the sport reestablish good habits.

According to the article on CNN, thirty percent of jockeys deal with bulimia, an eating disorder that has grown so widespread that racetracks have constructed “heaving bowls.” However, the fact that women tend to be smaller than men is not the only puzzling cause. According to CNN, women make up 90 percent of horse owners and managers in the United States, so it’s evident that there is a lot of interest in the hobby.

Why is it that none of the hundreds of young ladies who spend their summers attending horse riding programs go on to make a living doing what they love? The sexist explanation is the simplest one. In 1968, when Penny Ann Early became the first woman to get a license to compete in horse races, men riders at Churchill Downs refused to compete against her.

She is widely regarded as the first female jockey.
You shouldn’t anticipate seeing any more forms of discrimination against female riders, but a certain degree of the boy’s club mentality has endured.
It’s too bad about that.
Women have demonstrated that they are capable of competing with males in races without endangering anyone or causing mayhem on the track (legitimate fears for male jockeys at one point).

Even more importantly, they have demonstrated that they are not only capable of racing against men, but that they can win. A woman will, one day, and hopefully in the not too distant future, triumph in the race for the roses. Because there is more for ladies to do in life than watch the Kentucky Derby while drinking mint juleps and wearing elaborate hats.

Can females be a jockey in Kentucky Derby?

Since the turn of the century, there have been several women who have played significant roles in the history of the Kentucky Derby. Elwood was entered into the Kentucky Derby in 1904 by Mrs. Laska Durnell, who did so without telling her husband, Charles Durnell, who was the horse’s trainer.

Elwood triumphed despite having the longest odds of any of the five competitors in the race. The judgment was astute. Elwood was the first horse to be started and win while being owned by a woman. Mrs.J.B. Prather was the first woman to breed a horse that went on to win. By the 1940s, the participation of female owners in the Derby was practically standard.

In 1942, seven of the top eight finishers in the Kentucky Derby were owned by women. This was the same year that women won the race for the first time. The one and only exception to this rule was Valdina Orphan, who came in third. As of the year 2015, neither a female jockey nor a female trainer has ever won the Kentucky Derby.

Mary Hirsch (1937) was the first female trainer to race a horse in the Kentucky Derby.
Shelley Riley, whose Casual Lies finished 2nd in the 1992 Kentucky Derby, and Kathy Ritvo, whose Mucho Macho Man finished 3rd in the 2011 Kentucky Derby, became the first female trainer to win a Breeder’s Cup Classic race in 2013.

There have been many female trainers who have run horses in the Kentucky Derby, including Mary Hirsch (1937), who was the first female trainer to race a horse in Diane Crump, Patti Cooksey, Andrea Seefeldt, Julie Krone, and Rosemary Homeister are the six women who have competed in the illustrious “Run for the Roses.” Rosie Napravnik was also a participant in this race.

Can girls race in the Derby?

Which Sexes of Horses Will Compete in the Kentucky Derby – The Kentucky Derby features competition from both male and female horses. However, female horses, often known as fillies, have only ever won the Kentucky Derby a total of three times. Regret in 1915, Genuine Risk in 1980, and Winning Colors in 1988 were the horses that won their respective years.

Are there any female horses in the 2022 Kentucky Derby?

The Kentucky Derby and Oaks will be held on May 6 and 7, 2022, and Filly Joel will compete in both races.

Are there any current female jockeys?

Features The hashtag #JustJockeys brings attention to the amazing accomplishments that women have made in the sport of horseracing. It also brings attention to the fact that we should stop using the phrase “female jockeys” and instead celebrate the sport as a whole.

What does a Kentucky Derby jockey make?

LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY – MAY 01: During the 147th running of the Kentucky Derby, which took place at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky on May 1, 2021, Medina Spirit #8, which was ridden by jockey John Velazquez, led the field through the first turn.

(Photograph by Sarah Stier, courtesy of Getty Images) The winner of the Kentucky Derby receives more than just a glistening gold trophy and a bouquet of roses for their efforts. It’s also a good little paycheck for the jockey of the winning horse, although it might not be precisely what some supporters have in mind when they think about how much they’ll get.

The winner of the Kentucky Derby this year will take home $1.86 million of the total prize pool of $3 million. The event was held this year at Churchill Downs. resulting in the rider receiving somewhere about ten percent of the total prizes. Not bad for a day’s work: you get $186,000 in return.

Those revenues, however, are reduced to around $50,000 in take-home income after agency fees, valet, and taxes are deducted. Which, in the grand scheme of things, isn’t a bad amount of money, but it’s not nearly as much as one might assume it is considering how rich other sports personalities are. The race known as “The Fastest Two Minutes in Sports” also has the jockey purses being distributed the quickest.

Especially when one considers that even finishing in the top five might result in a rider receiving less than $10,000 in prize money. And this is before the Kentucky Derby increased the amount of money winners get from the 2019 value of $2 million to $3 million. Why Are There No Female Jockeys In The Kentucky Derby

Do just male horses run in the Kentucky Derby?

The Kentucky Oaks and the Kentucky Derby – Which Race Should You Watch? The type of horses that are eligible to compete is the primary criterion that differentiates the two events from one another. It comes down to the gender of the horse in the end because both trots are for three-year-old horses.

Only 3-year-old female horses, sometimes known as fillies, are eligible to qualify for and compete in The Oaks since it is a gender-restricted race.
The Derby, on the other hand, is available to colts, geldings, and fillies that meet the requirements.
The fact that female horses are allowed to run in the Kentucky Derby stands out as an anomaly in the world of horse racing.

For the sake of comparison, colts, geldings, and fillies generally carry 121 pounds, while colts and geldings often carry 126 pounds. Both of these competitions are run over various distances as well. The Kentucky Oaks is run over a distance of 1 1/8 miles, whereas the Derby is run over a distance of 1 1/4 miles, making it longer by a furlong.

Although there is no formal justification given for the different distances, it is commonly considered that the Oaks is a shorter race because fillies are less capable of going the extra furlong.
This is despite the fact that there is no official reason given for the different distances.
Last but not least, the first-place award and the purse for each of the two races are drastically different from one another.

Take a look: The Kentucky Derby has a total purse of $3 million, with the first-place prize being to $1,860,00. The purse for the Kentucky Oaks is $1.25 million, and the first-place prize is $750,000.

Is secret oath the only filly in the Preakness?

The odds for the Secret Oath race in the Preakness Stakes are as follows: Will Secret Oath be the next filly to win the Preakness? According to those who make odds, she does have a decent shot at achieving her goal. Although Secret Oath is presently in second place, Epicenter is the horse that is most likely to win the Preakness Stakes.

She has the third best probability of winning the contest, which puts her behind only Epicenter and Early Voting in terms of likelihood.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Secret Oath is considered to be one of the top contenders to win the race.
She has competed in a total of eight events thus far, and at this point, she has won five of those races.

She has just come off a win at the Kentucky Oaks, which is a race that is 1 1/8 miles long, and she should have enough of a push down the stretch to be able to compete for the win. She has a propensity to hang back a little bit, waiting in the shadows behind everyone else before making her way to the head of the pack.

Post position	Horse	Odds
1	Simplification	6-1
2	Creative Minister	10-1
3	Fenwick	50-1
4	Secret Oath	9-2
5	Early Voting	7-2
6	Happy Jack	30-1
7	Armagnac	12-1
8	Epicenter	6-5
9	Skippylongstocking	20-1

Can a filly run in the Kentucky Derby?

In the history of the Kentucky Derby, there have been a total of 40 fillies that have competed, six of which were post-time favorites. Regret and Calumet Farm’s Nellie Flag, who placed fourth in 1935, were both among them. Favored in 1921 was the H.P. Whitney entry consisting of the filly Prudery (who finished third) and the colt Tryster (who finished fourth).

Is there a filly running in the Kentucky Derby?

Filly is in the driver’s seat this weekend – The Florida Derby will be held at Gulfstream Park, the Arkansas Derby will be held at Oaklawn Park, and the Jeff Ruby Steaks will be held at Turfway. All three of these races are key points qualifiers for the Kentucky Derby, which will be held next weekend.

The majority of attention and speculation will be directed toward Arkansas, because it is the location where Secret Oath, a filly trained by D.
Wayne Lukas, is going to make her first race against male competitors.
Secret Oath has been one of the most impressive performers during the Kentucky Oaks preparation calendar, and she has already amassed the necessary number of qualifying points to participate in the race on May 6.

Therefore, because of her connections, she has a chance to compete in the Derby. The daughter of Arrogate will compete in the Arkansas Derby against a group that, on paper at least, looks to be manageable. Other top contenders include Un Ojo, a one-eyed gelding who defeated 75-1 odds to win the Rebel Stakes; Barber Road, who has been competitive in the previous Arkansas preps; Cyberknife, who was prepared by top trainer Brad Cox; and Doppelganger, who was trained by Bob Baffert in the past but was transferred to the barn of Tim Yakteen last week.

Even if Secret Oath finishes first or second in the Preakness Stakes, which would be enough to qualify for the Kentucky Derby, there is no assurance that she would compete against the male horses on the day of the Derby. Her connections won’t settle on whether or not she will run in the Derby or the Oaks until after the race on Saturday.

Since Devil May Care finished 10th in the Derby in 2010, no filly has been entered in the race. Winning Colors was the last filly to triumph in the event, which took place in 1988. Lukas was also responsible for her education. ▪ The Florida Derby will have a deep field on Saturday, especially considering that the winner of the Tampa Bay Derby, Classic Causeway, is now scheduled to compete in the prep race for the Florida Derby.

It had been planned that he would compete in the Blue Grass Stakes, but it appears that he would instead remain in Florida for his last preparations for the Kentucky Derby.
It won’t be a walk in the park.
Other horses who are anticipated to compete include White Abarrio, who won the Holy Bull Stakes, Simplification, who won the Fountain of Youth Stakes, and Charge It, who won an amazing maiden race and is handled by Todd Pletcher, who has won the Florida Derby six times.

Since Animal Kingdom won the event in 2011, the Jeff Ruby Steaks at Turfway has not produced a horse that has gone on to win the Kentucky Derby. Furthermore, since 2012, no horse that has competed in that race, which is held on a synthetic track, has finished higher than 10th in the Derby.

Nevertheless, it awards a total of 100 points to the champion and 40 points to the runner-up, and the competition on Saturday could be quite interesting. Tiz the Bomb, who is trained by Kenny McPeek, is not the only horse in the running for the Kentucky Derby. Blackadder, who was one of the four horses Bob Baffert retired last week, is also a chance.

Rodolphe Brisset, a trainer who has never qualified a horse for the Kentucky Derby, is currently in charge of the son of Quality Road. Ben Roberts covers all things related to the men’s basketball team at the University of Kentucky for the Lexington Herald-Leader. Why Are There No Female Jockeys In The Kentucky Derby

Has a filly ever won a Triple Crown race?

Fascinating information includes: – The Triple Crown has never been won by either a gelding or a filly. The majority of Triple Crown winners had a chestnut or bay coat color, with the sole brown winner being War Admiral. Stallions are the only horses who may win the Triple Crown.

Can a girl be a horse jockey?

After the passage of the Sex Discrimination Act in 1975, female jockeys have been permitted to compete in the Grand National horse competition since 1977. Since then, there have been a total of 19 female jockeys that have competed in the Grand National.

In 1977, Charlotte Brew made history by being the first woman to compete in the race while riding her horse, Barony Fort. The first woman to successfully finish the course was Geraldine Rees, who did so in 1982. She finished ninth on Cheers thanks to her riding. This was the first year that there were two female jockeys competing in the Grand National, and Brew returned with her horse Martinstown.

In 1988, there was an all-time high in the number of women who participated because three women enrolled for the very first time. Penny Ffitch-Heyes, Venetia Williams, and Gee Armytage were were among the competitors that began the race. None of their horses were able to complete the race.

After an absence of eleven years, a woman participated in the Grand National once again in 2005. This marked the beginning of the new era. Carrie Ford came in fifth place, which was tied for the greatest performance by a woman at the time. Rosemary Henderson, the final female jockey to compete in the event, and she both held the record simultaneously.

Katie Walsh, who was riding Seabass in 2012, became the first female rider to ever place in the top three of a race. The record for the most Grand Nationals started by a woman is shared by Nina Carberry and Katie Walsh, who each started six of the races.

Can females be horse jockeys?

In thoroughbred racing, female jockeys are no more prevalent now than they were in the year 2000. Moreover, in elite races, for which our statistics go back longer, women are no more common than they were in the 1990s. This trend holds true across the industry.

Can only male horses race in the Kentucky Derby?

Only 3-year-old female horses, sometimes known as fillies, are eligible to qualify for and compete in The Oaks since it is a gender-restricted race. The Derby, on the other hand, is available to colts, geldings, and fillies that meet the requirements. The fact that female horses are allowed to run in the Kentucky Derby stands out as an anomaly in the world of horse racing.

Although there is no formal justification given for the differences in distances, it is commonly considered that the Oaks is a shorter race due to the fillies being less capable of going the additional furlong. This is despite the fact that there is no official cause given for the differences in distances.

Last but not least, the first-place award and the purse for each of the two races are drastically different from one another. Take a look: The Kentucky Derby has a total purse of $3 million, with the first-place prize being to $1,860,00. The purse for the Kentucky Oaks is $1.25 million, and the first-place prize is $750,000.