Listen to this article
Approximately 4 minutes
The audio version of this article was created using artificial intelligence technology. Pronunciation errors may occur. We work with our partners to continually analyze and improve results.
Diane Crump, who became the first woman to compete professionally in horse racing in 1969 and a year later became the first female jockey in the Kentucky Derby, has died. She was 77.
Crump was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer in October and died Thursday evening at a hospice in Winchester, Virginia, her daughter Della Payne told The Associated Press.
Crump won 228 races before competing in her final race in 1998, a month before her 50th birthday and nearly 30 years after her groundbreaking ride at Hialeah Park in Florida on February 7, 1969.
Crump was among several women who successfully competed for a jockey's license at the time, but they still needed a trainer willing to send them to the race and then run the race. Others were thwarted when male jockeys boycotted or threatened to boycott if a woman was ridden in an event.
Photos of Crump's walk to the Hialeah transfer site show guards guarding her and crowds pressing in on all sides. Six of the original 12 jockeys in the race refused to race, Mark Schrager wrote in his biography, Diane Crump: The Life of a Horse Racing Pioneer. Among them were future legends Angel Cordero Jr., Jorge Velazquez and Ron Turcotte, who would ride Secretariat to win the Triple Crown four years later.
But other jockeys stepped up, and as 12 horses entered the racecourse, the bugler missed the traditional post call and played “Smile for Me, My Diana” instead. A 50-1 Crump named Bridle 'n Bit finished 10th, but the barrier was cleared. A month later, Bridle 'n Bit gave Crump her first win at Gulfstream Park.
She made history again in 1970 by becoming the first woman to compete in the Kentucky Derby. She won the first race at Churchill Downs that day, but her mount was again outclassed in the historic race. She finished 15th out of 17 on Fathom.
It would be another 14 years before another female jockey would ride in the Derby, with four more to follow in the following decades.
Churchill Downs Racetrack President Mike Anderson said in a statement Friday that Crump “will be forever respected and fondly remembered in horse racing history.”
He noted that Crump, who had been riding since age 5 and galloping young Thoroughbreds since her teens, “was an iconic trailblazer who excelled at realizing her childhood dreams.”
“Courage, Perseverance and Progress”
Chris Goodlett of the Kentucky Derby Museum said, “The name Diana Crump means courage, resilience and progress.” He added: “Her determination in the face of insurmountable odds opened doors for generations of female jockeys and inspired countless others far beyond racing.”
After retiring from racing, Crump settled in Virginia and started a business helping people buy and sell horses.
In subsequent years, she took her therapy dogs, all dachshunds, to visit patients in hospitals and other medical clinics. She visited some with chronic illnesses regularly for many years.
Payne said that when her mother moved into the nursing home a month ago, she was already “quasi-famous” at the medical center because of how much time she spent there and had a “steady stream” of doctors and nurses coming to see her. One of the last people to visit her was the man who was mowing her lawn.
Her daughter said Crump would never take no for an answer, whether it was working as a jockey or helping someone in need.
“I wouldn't say she was so competitive as she was stubborn,” Payne said. “If anyone counted on her, she would never let anyone down.”
At the end of her life, Crump's mottos were literally tattooed on her forearms: “Kindness” on the left, “Compassion” on the right.
Crump will be cremated and her ashes interred between her parents at Prospect Hill Cemetery in Front Royal, Virginia.
