This may be the most fascinating untold sports story in American history. We are lucky that it is so well told now by Mr. Hotaling in his wonderfully written book. It is more than a sports story, though. It is a human story. These were exceptional athletes who competed successfully against their white counterparts and more than held their own. Yet how many Americans today, how many racing fans even ... realize that the winning jockey in the first Kentucky Derby was a black man? These African-American jockeys, great as they were, were driven out of the sport and then out of history. It was as if they were never there. To read Hotaling's book is to discover important missing pages of history.
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