Black Women Horse Owners Make History After Securing Their First Win On Kentucky Oaks Day

✍🏾: @tiff.chey

A team of Black women horse owners has made history by accomplishing their first win at Kentucky Oaks Day at Churchill Downs Racetrack in Louisville! The team of five women who are apart of the Black-owned horse stable ‘Living the Dream’ are celebrating a significant victory as their horse “Seven Scents” took first place in the race allowing these women to pave the way for other Black horse owners.

Co-owner Dr. Tiffany Daniels said, “We’re not only owners; we’re winners. We’re showing up at the tracks, we’re representing, and we’re taking home prizes.” Fellow co-owner Coya Robinson, reminded everyone that “The first jockey to win the Kentucky Derby was an African American male. We’re in 2022 right now, and we don’t see a lot of us.”

There is a need for representation on the track. These women embody Black excellence as they lead by example and bring a long-overdue acknowledgment to light while introducing more Black horse owners to the industry.

Dr. Daniels expressed that the rich Black history surrounding the 148-year-old event has gone undiscussed as people don’t know about it. “Us specifically, we’re following in the footsteps of Eliza Carpenter, who was a slave who became a horse owner and an actual jockey.”

Via @MadameNoire:

“Eliza Carpenter, also known as “Aunt Eliza,” gained her freedom at the end of the Civil War and traveled to Madisonville, Kentucky where she learned how to purchase, train and ride horses. Eventually, Carpenter learned so much about the thoroughbred industry that she opened up her own stable in Ponca City, Oklahoma, where she competed in a few races and even won, according to the Notable Kentucky African Americans Database.“

These women won the race and their efforts to enlighten and advance inclusion in the industry for the up-and-coming generations of Black horse owners, and we love to see it. Congratulations! #BWLM💕