First Kentucky Derby: Thirteen Black Jockeys, One Shady Owner, and the Little Red Horse That Wasn't Supposed to Win [Hardback]

"In The First Kentucky Derby, racing historian Mark Shrager examines the events leading up to the first "Run for the Roses," the unsuccessful plot hatched by the winning horse's owner to fix the race, and the prominent role played by African-Americans inGilded Age racing culture-a holdover from pre-emancipation days, when slaves would be trained from birth to ride for their wealthy owners, and would grow up surrounded by the horses that would be their life's work"--

In The First Kentucky Derby, racing historian Mark Shrager examines the events leading up to the first “Run for the Roses,” the unsuccessful plot hatched by the winning horse’s owner to fix the race, and the prominent role played by African Americans in Gilded Age racing culture—a holdover from pre-emancipation days, when slaves were trained from birth to ride for their wealthy owners and grew up surrounded by the horses that would be their life’s work.