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Beating the Odds: Black Jockeys in the Kentucky Derby, 1870-1911

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  • Michael Leeds
  • Hugh Rockoff

Abstract

The Kentucky Derby is the premier American horse race. The first race was held in 1875 and 13 of the 15 jockeys were African Americans. African American jockeys continued to play an important role until the turn of the 19th century when they were forced from the Kentucky Derby and the other big American races, victims of the rising tide of Jim Crow. This paper uses a new data set based on the odds on all the entries in the Kentucky Derby between 1875 and 1915 to examine the willingness of owners and trainers to hire African American jockeys and the willingness of fans to bet on them.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Leeds & Hugh Rockoff, 2019. "Beating the Odds: Black Jockeys in the Kentucky Derby, 1870-1911," NBER Working Papers 25461, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25461
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    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w25461.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Brown, Alasdair & Yang, Fuyu, 2015. "Does society underestimate women? Evidence from the performance of female jockeys in horse racing," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 106-118.
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • N0 - Economic History - - General
    • N11 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913

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