It’s on the wrong track
Lack of diversity hinders sport’s growth potential
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — When Rich Strike bolted into horse racing’s spotlight in a little over two minutes with his upset Kentucky Derby victory, he shared the stage with his handler, who has long toiled in the shadows constantly tending to the champion colt.
Rich Strike’s attention stems from winning as a nearly 81-1 long shot, but groom Jerry Dixon Jr.’s newfound recognition comes from being one of few Black horsemen left in the sport once dominated by people who look like him.
“I totally understand it because I was looking at something about the Derby and I saw how there were Blacks in the beginning,” said Dixon, 31 and a fourth-generation horseman who works with his father — trainer Jerry Sr. — for Eric Reed, who trains Rich Strike.
“And then years afterward, you can see the change, like we were slowly fading away.”
A lack of diversity is one of the biggest obstacles to growth in horse racing, along with safety and medication standards. The government stepped in to address those concerns, but there’s no national program to increase diversity in the industry.
That wasn’t always the case for African-Americans, who were a key part of early Derby history and thoroughbred racing.
Black jockeys won 15 of the first 28 Derbies from 1875-1902. Isaac Murphy had three victories, and Willie Simms and Jimmy Winkfield each won twice. Black people owned and trained thoroughbreds through the early 20th century before segregation and Jim Crow laws in the South pushed many away from racing by restricting jockey licensing and ownership.
Now, a handful of Black horsemen can be seen around the backside barns of tracks working as trainers, grooms and hot walkers, but their numbers are scarce compared to the overwhelming presence of Latino workers.
Economics and the time demands of tending to horses are factors often cited in the low number of Black and white people working in the barns. But while Saturday’s Belmont Stakes pays a prize purse of $1.5 million, everyday races have much smaller payouts that must be divided multiple ways among owners, trainers and workers.
Many backside workers at Churchill Downs live in dormitories near the barns or above them. Compared to other industries that pay higher wages and offer set hours with health benefits, horse racing is a daily job that requires getting up well before sunrise to train and care for horses. Then, coming back in the afternoon to do it again. Days off are hard to come by.
Horsemen interviewed for this story declined to discuss wages and benefits. They’re quick to point out that horse racing isn’t for everybody.
Horsemen such as the Dixons and trainer Mark Simms Jr. say they do it for love of the animals and the sport. Not to mention, it’s in their blood.
“My grandpa would have told you that I learned how to walk walking over towards the barn,” said Simms, whose great-grandfather, grandfather and uncle are among several relatives in racing.
“You can go to Target and can probably make 15 bucks an hour or something like that. And you work for five days a week,” Simms said. “This really is something that you have to have a passion for to do, to get up and do it every day.”
The stables are an entry point into horse racing, but Greg Harbut is working to increase the involvement of Black people in all phases of the sport, including thoroughbred ownership and management.
The third-generation horseman and partner Ray Daniels comprise leadership of the Ed Brown Society and Living The Dream Stables, a thoroughbred syndicate comprised of minority ownership. The two partnered on colt Necker Island, who finished ninth in the 2020 Kentucky Derby.
EBS recently partnered with Churchill Downs for an internship program to follow up a previous pairing with the Stronach Group that owns Baltimore’s Pimlico Race Course and Santa Anita Park in California.
“When you look at a lot of minorities, they’ve got two to three generations removed where they couldn’t even go to someone to get the history, the horsemanship or have a mentor,” said Harbut, whose great-grandfather, Will Harbut, was a groom to legendary thoroughbred Man o’War.
“And that’s really what’s missing. The horsemanship has not been passed down from generation to generation as it once was.”*