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Diane Crump, the first woman to compete in the Kentucky Derby as a jockey, died this week at the age of 77.
Crump was diagnosed in October with an aggressive form of brain cancer and died Thursday night at hospice in Winchester, Virginia, her daughter, Della Payne, told The Associated Press.
In 1969, she became the first woman to ride professionally in a horse race, and a year later she became the first female jockey in the Kentucky Derby. Another 14 years would pass before another woman would participate in the convention.
Only four others have driven it since then.
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Crump won 228 races before her last race in 1998, a month before her 50th birthday and almost 30 years after her groundbreaking ride at Hialeah Park in Florida on February 7, 1969.
Crump was among several women who fought successfully at the time to obtain a jockey’s license, but they still needed a trainer willing to put them in a race and then for the race to run. Others were thwarted when male jockeys boycotted or threatened to boycott if a woman rode.
Churchill Downs Racetrack President Mike Anderson said in a statement Friday that Crump “will forever be respected and fondly remembered in horse racing history.”
He noted that Crump, who had ridden since age 5 and galloped young thoroughbreds since she was a teenager, “was an iconic trailblazer who admirably fulfilled her childhood dreams.”
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The 149th running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 6, 2023 in Louisville, Ky. (Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Chris Goodlett of the Kentucky Derby Museum said, “Diane Crump’s name stands for courage, grit and progress. Her determination in the face of overwhelming odds opened doors for generations of female jockeys and inspired countless others far beyond racing.”
After retiring from racing, Crump settled in Virginia and started a business helping people buy and sell horses.
In recent years, she took her therapy dogs, all dachshunds, to visit patients in hospitals and other medical clinics. She visited some with chronic illnesses regularly for years.
Payne said that when her mother went into care a month ago, she was already “quasi-famous” at the medical center because of how much time she had spent there, and a “steady stream” of doctors and nurses came to see her. One of the last to visit her was the man who mowed her lawn.
Her daughter said Crump would never take “no” for an answer, whether it was becoming a jockey or helping someone in need.
“I wouldn’t say she was competitive as much as she was stubborn,” Payne said. “If someone counted on her, she could never let anyone down.”
Late in life, Crump had her favorite basic qualities tattooed on her forearms – “Kindness” on the left, “Compassion” on the right.
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Diane Crump keeps pace with Mike Sorentino, riding Born In A Trunk, and Craig Perret, riding Shir-Tee, during the seventh race at Hialeah. Diane, 20, became the first woman to compete in a regular event in United States thoroughbred racing history. She finished tenth in a field of twelve. (Bettmann/Getty Images)
Crump will be cremated and her ashes interred between her parents at Prospect Hill Cemetery in Front Royal, Virginia.
