Racing
The Two Women that Paved the Way for the Others
Horse racing, a sport of kings-not queens. Or so they thought. The first woman to try to be a jockey was Kathy Kusner, an international jumper and member of the United States Equestrian Team. She applied for her jockey license in Maryland at age 28 in 1967, after enlisting the help of a lawyer, Audrey Melbourne.
The commission had three requirements for a jockey license: they must be able to break a horse from the gate and it be approved by a starter, they must work a horse with other horses on the track to the approval of the stewards, and a licensed trainer must sponsor them.
Melbourne chose a specific starter, who was without knowledge of the applicant's name of whom he was approving. He told the news cameras that Kusner had done just fine, then later claimed in court that she was not good enough to ride. His taped words refuted his faulty statement. Kusner applied three times to the Maryland Racing Commission, and was turned down each time despite her obvious riding ability. Melbourne then took the case to the Prince George's County state court and went ahead with legal proceedings. November 1968-the Maryland court ruled that the racing commission had acted in discrimination, based solely on gender. This ruling finally cleared the way for Kusner and other women to ride racehorses with the rest of them. Sadly, Kusner was not the first woman jockey. She broke her leg while riding for the Olympic Team at Madison Square Gardens. Diane Crump took up the role instead.
Diane Crump (pictured upper left) went with some yearlings she had trained to the racetrack and ended up riding in 1969 in a race at Hialeah Park. Before her, and after Kusner, two other women had tried to ride in a race, but the other jockeys boycotted the races. On Crump's race, the stewards told the other jockeys that they would bar any jockeys that boycotted the race and would put exercise riders in the saddle instead. Only a year after her first race, Crump became the first woman to ride in the Kentucky Derby. Crump did not win either of these races but before the end of her career as a jockey she won over 270 races.
The commission had three requirements for a jockey license: they must be able to break a horse from the gate and it be approved by a starter, they must work a horse with other horses on the track to the approval of the stewards, and a licensed trainer must sponsor them.
Melbourne chose a specific starter, who was without knowledge of the applicant's name of whom he was approving. He told the news cameras that Kusner had done just fine, then later claimed in court that she was not good enough to ride. His taped words refuted his faulty statement. Kusner applied three times to the Maryland Racing Commission, and was turned down each time despite her obvious riding ability. Melbourne then took the case to the Prince George's County state court and went ahead with legal proceedings. November 1968-the Maryland court ruled that the racing commission had acted in discrimination, based solely on gender. This ruling finally cleared the way for Kusner and other women to ride racehorses with the rest of them. Sadly, Kusner was not the first woman jockey. She broke her leg while riding for the Olympic Team at Madison Square Gardens. Diane Crump took up the role instead.
Diane Crump (pictured upper left) went with some yearlings she had trained to the racetrack and ended up riding in 1969 in a race at Hialeah Park. Before her, and after Kusner, two other women had tried to ride in a race, but the other jockeys boycotted the races. On Crump's race, the stewards told the other jockeys that they would bar any jockeys that boycotted the race and would put exercise riders in the saddle instead. Only a year after her first race, Crump became the first woman to ride in the Kentucky Derby. Crump did not win either of these races but before the end of her career as a jockey she won over 270 races.