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Diane Crump, the first woman to enter the Kentucky Derby as a jockey, died this week at the age of 77.
Crump was diagnosed in October with brain cancer and died Thursday night at a hospice in Winchester, Virginia, his daughter, Della Payne, told The Associated Press.
In 1969, she became the first woman to win a horse race and, a year later, the first female jockey in the Kentucky Derby. It would be 14 years before another woman rode in this event.
Only four have run in it since.
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Crump won 228 races before his last race in 1998, a month before his 50th birthday and nearly 30 years after his ride at Hialeah Park in Florida on Feb. 7, 1969.
Crump was among the many women who would successfully fight for a jockey’s license at the time, but they still needed a trainer who was willing to get them into the race and the race would be run. Others were disturbed 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.”
He noted that Crump, who had been riding since he was 5 years old and galloping with pets since he was a child, “was a trailblazer who amazingly fulfilled his childhood dreams.”
A WELL-KNOWN HORSE RACING JOCKEY WHO CALLED A STATE SECRETARY AND ATE A THREE CHAMPION ISHEMBE AT 84 YEARS OLD
The 149th running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs 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, ingenuity and progress. Her determination in the face of great odds opened doors for generations of female riders 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 later years, he took his therapy dogs, all dachshunds, to visit patients in hospitals and other medical clinics. He regularly visited those with chronic diseases for many years.
Payne said that by the time her mother went to help a month ago, she was already “famous” at the medical center because of how much time she had spent there, and “lots” of doctors and nurses came to see her. One of the last people to visit him was a man who was mowing his lawn.
His daughter said Crump would never take “no” for an answer, whether it was being a jockey or helping someone in need.
“I wouldn’t say he was as competitive as he was stubborn,” Payne said. “If someone trusted him, he would never let anyone down.”
Later, Crump had his favorite emblems engraved on his arms – “Kindness” on the left, “Compassion” on the right.
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Diane Crump joins Mike Sorentino on Born In A Trunk, and Craig Perret on Shir-Tee, during the seventh race at Hialeah. Diane, 20, became the first woman to compete in a regular event in US thoroughbred racing history. He finished tenth in a field of twelve. (Bettmann/Getty Images)
Crump will be cremated, and his ashes interred with his parents at Prospect Hill Cemetery in Front Royal, Virginia.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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