Diversity in Racing

Growing up near Third Street in Lexington, Ron Mack spent much of his childhood playing football with friends on what was once the infield of the Kentucky Association racetrack, but he didn't realize that they were throwing a football on hallowed ground until years later. After playing football for the University of Kentucky and then building a career in commercial banking in Atlanta, Mack returned to Lexington in 2014 and began digging into the history of horse racing and the Kentucky Association. What Mack learned through his research led to...

I am writing with respect to the September 22, 2021 article New Face in the Keeneland Sales Ring. The article invoked the same feelings that I had the first time I went to one of the sales. In the days leading up to this first foray, my colleagues talked up the sales and the good times that they had watching horses sell for more than seven figures and attending the ancillary events that were part of the experience. I went into the arena on that day with high expectations, but...

Sean Levey has already set several notable benchmarks in British racing--being the first black jockey to ride in the Derby in 2016 when fifth on Humphrey Bogart (Ire) (Tagula {Ire}) and, two years later, the first black jockey to win a British Classic when steering Billesdon Brook (GB) (Champs Elysees {GB}) to victory in the G1 1000 Guineas-and next week Levey hopes to earn a belated first Royal Ascot victory. The 33-year-old Swaziland-born rider, who will partner the likes of Snow Lantern (GB) (Frankel {GB}) and Happy Romance (Ire) (Dandy...

The International Museum of the Horse at the Kentucky Horse Park has launched the Chronicle of African Americans in the Horse Industry, a new website designed to increase awareness, education, and access to African-American history. The site builds upon information discovered for the museum's permanent exhibit, Black Horsemen of the Kentucky Turf. Through a collaborative effort between individuals, organizations, and communities, the goal of this digital history platform is to uncover, collect, document, and make accessible the history of African-Americans in the horse industry. The Chronicle relies on researchers finding...

The Kentucky Equine Education Project (KEEP) will host a webinar focused on diversity, equity and inclusion in the horse industry. Building Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in the Equine Industry With Talent Pipeline Management will be held Aug. 25, at 1 p.m. ET. KEEP is providing the webinar in partnership with the Kentucky Chamber Workforce Center, the Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet, and the Kentucky Community and Technical College System. If you are interested in participating in the webinar, please register here. Participation in the webinar is free. The webinar...

Thank you for your series Diversity in Racing; I appreciate that you and other voices in racing are thinking about how to cultivate a more diverse and inclusive environment throughout the horse racing industry. For full disclosure I am a recent graduate of the University of Arizona Race Track Industry Program, but I am also an autistic person with ADHD— in a word, neurodiverse. What that means is that my brain is quite literally "wired" differently at its most basic level. Neurodiversity currently describes the Autistic, ADHDers, the Epileptic, and...

On a sparsely traveled road in downtown Lexington, African Cemetery No. 2 sits encircled by a worn iron fence. The sounds of cars flashing by nearby busier streets, the incessant barking of a neighboring dog and the harsh droning of a drill from the adjacent auto parts shop carry through the isolated eight-acre plot. Opened in 1869, the site now contains over 5,000 graves, of which fewer than 600 are recognized with markers. The plot inters hundreds of enslaved African Americans, as well as members of the U.S. Colored Troops...

I'm writing to offer my thanks for the article you posted recently featuring Dora Delgado. Timely, yes and helpful to learn more about her thinking on diversity, equity and inclusion within our sport. It also hit home for me as my father was one of three black trainers actively campaigning in Chicago during the 1970s - 1990s. Mr. Clifford Scott, Paul Darjean and my father, Clenon Brown. I've enjoyed the sport since age three, when my father started teaching me how to read the DRF, he noted, before I could...

Dozens of angry industry members took to social media Monday morning after a racially charged social media post by a prominent Thoroughbred consignor surfaced on Twitter. By the end of the day, The Jockey Club, Keeneland, Fasig-Tipton, the Stronach Group and the NTRA had issued statements denouncing the posts. Tom VanMeter, who owns and operates VanMeter Sales, a leading consignor based in Lexington, Kentucky, posted two comments in response to a question posted on Facebook by farm manager Donnie Snellings, asking people to repost his post if they planned to...

Co-Owner, Siena Farm, Paris, KY Since the beginning of time, humans have pigeonholed each other by race, religion, gender and wealth, which has resulted in discrimination. There are many pathways that can and must be taken to reduce systemic racism and prejudice. But I see no pathway to eliminate latent discrimination; humans will always pigeonhole. There continues to be systemic racism in all sports and in American society. Blacks, Asians, Hispanics, Native Americans and Muslims continue to bear the brunt of latent discrimination and prejudice. In the early days of...

Horseplayer, NYRA/Fox Analyst, Co-creator In The Money Media What if one of racing's biggest moments had a Black person at the center? Other sports have had such moments, from Doug Williams winning the Super Bowl to Tiger Woods's first Masters victory to Venus Williams winning Wimbledon. These moments made these sports more appealing to Black people because they saw people who looked like them achieving success at the highest levels. Racing in the modern era is still waiting for that moment. And for a sport that's been so traditionally white,...

As many people in the United States and around the world question their personal views on diversity and racial inclusion, we decided to look inwardly on our industry, and we found it wanting. So we asked a tough question to several industry members- How do we make racing at its highest level more diverse? JOE SANTOS JR.    As we've seen in these times, diversity scares people. Especially those who are at the head of power. Racing is no different in this aspect than the real world. So many times...