He rode Aristides to a win in 1875.
Oliver Lewis.
He was the first jockey to win the Kentucky Derby.
Oliver Lewis
oliver Lewis on aristides.
Oliver Lewis [1856 - 1924] was the winning rider in the first Kentucky Derby. Lewis was a jockey of African American descent. His winning horse was the blood-red chestnut Aristides. Lewis went on to become a Kentucky businessman in Lexington.
It was Clark who started the Kentucky Derby.
Aristides [1872 - 1893] was the first horse to win the Kentucky Derby. With 14 competitors, Aristides covered the 1.5 mile dirt racetrack in 2:37.75 minutes. The racetrack was decreased to its current size of 1 1/4 miles [2 kilometers] in 1896.
Yes, Oliver Lewis [1856 - 1924] was the first African American jockey to win a running of the Kentucky Derby. That victory was at the Derby's inaugural race, on May 17, 1875. Lewis' winning horse was Aristides. His winning time with his blood-red chestnut male was 2 minutes 37-3/4 seconds on the then 1-1/2 mile course.
Almost all if not all of them. In the beginnings the jockey industry was dominated by African Americans
Oliver Lewis [1856 - 1924] was the first African American jockey to ride in the Kentucky Derby. In fact, he rode the blood-red chestnut Aristides in the very first Derby. On that afternoon of May 17, 1875, horse and jockey rode to victory.
That the first winning jockey and the first winning trainer were African Americans is an interesting fact about black people and the Kentucky Derby. Oliver Lewis [1855? 1856?, Fayette County, Kentucky - 1924] was the winning jockey at the inaugural Kentucky Derby of May 17, 1875. The winning horse, Aristides, was trained by Ansel Williamson, a posthumous inductee into the Racing Hall of Fame in 1998.
There have been 136 winners of the Kentucky Derby thus far. The winners of the inaugural Derby of May 17, 1875 were the horse Aristides and the rider Oliver Lewis [1856 - 1924]. The winners of the 136th Derby of May 1, 2010 were the horse Super Saver [foaled 2007] and the rider Calvin H. Borel [b. November 8, 1966].