Results

  1. Aristides Wins the First Kentucky Derby
    date May 17, 1875 to May 17, 1876map JEFFERSON, Kentuckytags African-Americans, Arts/Leisure

    Ridden by African-American jockey Oliver Lewis, a colt named Aristides won the first Kentucky Derby. Lewis set a standard for black jockeys, who won 15 of the next 28 Kentucky Derbies. Later that year, Lewis rode Aristides to a second-place finish in the Belmont Stakes. At the time, the Kentucky Derby was not the huge national event it would become. It was a single race that was the highlight, but...