IV 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 231

Recognizing and celebrating the life and accomplishments of the great African 

American jockey Jimmy ‘‘Wink’’ Winkfield and the significant contributions and excellence of other African American jockeys and trainers 

in the sport of horse racing and the history of the Kentucky Derby. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 21, 2005

Mr. RUSH (for himself and Mr. WHITFIELD) submitted the following 

resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Government Reform 

RESOLUTION

Recognizing and celebrating the life and accomplishments 

of the great African American jockey Jimmy ‘‘Wink’’ 

Winkfield and the significant contributions and excellence 

of other African American jockeys and trainers in the 

sport of horse racing and the history of the Kentucky 

Derby.

Whereas Jimmy ‘‘Wink’’ Winkfield was born on April 12th, 

1882 in Chilesburg, Kentucky, the youngest of 17 in a 

family of sharecroppers; 

Whereas Wink was born in an era when African American 

jockeys dominated the sport of horse racing, to the extent 

that African American riders won 15 of the first 28 Kentucky Derbies and in the first Kentucky Derby in 1875, 

13 of the 15 jockeys were African American; 
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Whereas the African American jockey Oliver Lewis won the 

first Derby by two lengths, and the African American 

jockey Alonzo ‘‘Lonnie’’ Clayton, at age 15, is the youngest rider ever to win the Derby; 

Whereas Wink worked by shining shoes, moved up as a stable 

hand, then as an exercise rider, and rode his first race 

at the age of 16; 

Whereas at the age of 22, Wink won back-to-back Kentucky 

Derbies in 1901 (on His Eminence) and 1902 (on AlanA-Dale), and placed second in 1903 (on Early); 

Whereas Wink is one of only 4 jockeys ever to accomplish 

this back-to-back feat, and he was the last African American jockey to win the Kentucky Derby; 

Whereas during his career Wink was known as king of the 

Chicago race tracks; 

Whereas unfortunately, segregation eventually forced African 

American jockeys off the race track and often into exile; 

Whereas Wink left the United States by buying a steamer 

ticket to Europe and settled down in Czarist Russia, 

where he became a wealthy and dominant athlete in Russia’s national sport; 

Whereas Wink went on to win the Russian national riding 

title an unheard of 3 times, won the Moscow Derby twice, 

the Russian Derby three times, the Grand Prix de Baden 

(in Germany), the Poland Derby twice, and the Grand 

Prix de la Republique (in France); 

Whereas the Bolshevik Communist Revolution in 1917 forced 

Wink to flee Russia, and he led 200 jockeys, trainers, 

and owners over treacherous mountain terrain into Poland; 
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Whereas Wink eventually settled down in France and retired 

in 1930 after accumulating 2,600 racing victories in 10 

countries, and turned to raising and training horses on 

his farm outside of Paris; 

Whereas in 1940, when the Nazis invaded France and commandeered his stables for their own horses, Wink defended himself and his farm with a pitchfork, only to 

eventually flee Nazi-occupied territory; 

Whereas after decades of exile, Wink returned to the United 

States one last time in 1961, 60 years after winning his 

first Kentucky Derby, when he was invited to a pre-Kentucky Derby banquet at the historic Brown Hotel in Louisville as a 2-time winner of the Derby; 

Whereas Wink and his daughter Lillian were denied entrance 

through the front door, but after a long delay were eventually admitted, and spent most of the evening with a 

white jockey named Roscoe Goose, an ex-competitor from 

their own Kentucky Derby days 60 years earlier, who sat 

with Wink for the evening and for the Derby the following afternoon; 

Whereas Wink returned to his home in Paris, where he died 

in 1974 at the age of 94 still homesick for the Kentucky 

bluegrass of his boyhood, his death virtually unnoticed in 

the United States; and 

Whereas in 2003, Wink was admitted to the National Racing 

Hall of Fame and joined two other African American 

Hall of Fame jockeys, 3-time Kentucky Derby winner 

Isaac Murphy and 2-time winner Willie Simms: Now, 

therefore, be it

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives—
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1 (1) celebrates the remarkable life and accom2 plishments of one of the truly great American ath3 letes, Jimmy ‘‘Wink’’ Winkfield, who continuously 

4 overcame racism and other significant obstacles dur5 ing his lifetime; and 

6 (2) recognizes and celebrates the significant 

7 contributions and excellence of African American 

8 jockeys and trainers in the sport of horse racing and 

9 in the history of the Kentucky Derby.

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