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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 5, 2000)
Late Night Friday, May 5th llpm-2am at the at the Rec Center Food, refreshments and prizes! Get your friends to wrestle in a sumo suit! Volleyball Sponsored by the Rec Center, Delta Sigma Phi, The Party Fund, New View 2000 and University Housing. - ^_j Table Tennis Racquetball First black man rides in 79 years ■The first black jockey since 1921 will ride at the Kentucky Derby on Saturday By Beth Harris The Associated Press LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Marlon St. Julien was awakened from a nap by a phone call that lasted only a few minutes but spanned 79 years of Kentucky Derby his tory. The caller, a reporter, informed him that he will be the first black jockey since 1921 to ride in the world’s most famous horse race. “I just want to be considered as one of the best riders in the coun try, whether black, white, purple, blue or brown,” he said Thursday while resting between races in the Churchill Downs jockeys’ room. “I also want to leave the game with a lot of respect and say I accomplished a lot in my ca reer.” St. Julien will ride Curule, a 50-to-l long shot who earned a spot in the 19-horse field Wednesday when another horse, Harlan Traveler, pulled out. Cu rule is owned by Godolphin Rac ing, which represents two sheiks who are members of Dubai’s rul ing family. “I get the chills watching it on TV, so I’ll get a lot more goose bumps coming out there” on Sat urday, the 28-year-old St, Julien said. “I’m sure it’ll be a feeling of a lifetime.” St. Julien, from Lafayette, La., became interested in racing through three uncles who had horses when he was young. Five foot-4 and 111 pounds, he rode in his first race at 17 and won for the first time in 1989. The only discouragement St. Julien said he heard was from other blacks in his hometown. They told him he would never succeed in the predominantly white sport. “I proved them all wrong,” he said. Black jockeys dominated the early years of the Kentucky Der by. Thirteen of the 15 riders in the first Derby in 1875 were black, and blacks won 15 of the Derby’s first 28 runnings. Isaac Murphy was the most successful, becoming the first to win three Derbies and first to win in consecutive years (1884,1890 and 1891). James Winkfield was the last black jockey to win the Derby, riding consecutive champions in 1901-02. The last black jockey in the race, Henry King, finished 10th aboard 81-1 long-shot Plan et. By the early 1900s, the pres ence of black riders and trainers in the Derby began decreasing, largely because of resentment from the white racing communi ty and the migration of blacks from Southern farms to Northern cities. Nowadays, there aren’t many black exercise riders and that’s how many successful jockeys start, said Cot Campbell, co-own er of Derby horses Impeachment and Trippi. He said he doesn’t believe dis crimination has been an issue for St. Julien, who rode a winner for Campbell last Sunday at Churchill Downs. “He thinks he’s hot and he is,” said Campbell, who is white. “He’s in the paddock tipping his hat and kissing the ladies.”
