Beating the Odds: Black Jockeys in the Kentucky Derby, 1870-1911 / Michael Leeds, Hugh Rockoff.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Leeds, Michael.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Rockoff, Hugh.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w25461.

NBER working paper series no. w25461

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Beating the Odds

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2019.

Summary:

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.

Notes:

Print version record

January 2019.