In 1826 “to improve the breed of horses by encouraging the sports of the turf,” the Kentucky Association for the Improvement of the Breeds of Stock was established. Fifty members of the group met at Mrs. Keen’s Inn to begin the industry that would…

Winkfield raced in the United States from 1899 to 1904. He won 161 races in 1901 alone. When Jim Crow injustice finally reached the racetracks, like many other African American jockeys, it eventually forced him off the tracks. Winkfield was the last…

This Italianate cottage was the home of Edward Dudley Brown (1848-1906), who in one lifetime went from slave to jockey to trainer to owner. Separated from his family at eight and sold into slavery to Robert A. Alexander of Woodburn Farm in Woodford…

Allen lived at 416 Kinkead Street, now Hummons Avenue. Dudley Allen (1845-1911) was born into slavery in Lexington, Kentucky, and eventually served in the Army with Company M of the 5th U.S. Colored Cavalry, 1864-1866, as a Quartermaster…

The Courtney Mathews House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Courtney Mathews (1868-1940) began working for jockey Lucian Lynn’s family at the age of sixteen. He quickly grew into an adept trainer and was hired by the owner of…

Ansel Williamson was sold to A. Keene Richards of Kentucky after working as an enslaved trainer in Alabama. He was later sold to the owner of Woodburn farm, Robert A. Alexander. After emancipation he was employed as a trainer to H. Price McGrath,…

At one point Murphy was the highest-paid jockey in the United States and had the best win percentage in thoroughred-racing history. This is the site of his home, no longer standing, but documented as a two story, approximately 1850-built red brick…