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Diane Crump, Famed Jockey and the First Woman to Ride in the Kentucky Derby, Dies at 77
Diane Crump broke the Kentucky Derby gender barrier in 1970 and won 228 races with over $1.2 million in earnings during her career, officials said.
- Diane Crump, the pioneering jockey, died Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026, in hospice in Winchester, Virginia, after battling glioblastoma; she was the first woman to ride in the Kentucky Derby in spring 1970.
- After becoming the first woman to ride professionally at a major Thoroughbred racetrack in 1969, Crump faced resistance from male jockeys, with six refusing to ride, and later became the first female to ride in the Kentucky Derby in 1970.
- Career tallies show 228 wins and more than $1.29 million in purses, according to Equibase.
- Churchill Downs and Mike Anderson offered condolences, calling Crump a trailblazer who `will be forever respected and fondly remembered`, while the Kentucky Derby Museum displays Crump's Derby boots worn in spring 1970.
- It was 14 more years before another female jockey rode the Derby, and only four more have followed, extending her legacy beyond racing through Diane Crump Equine Sales.
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Diane Crump, the first female jockey to ride in the Kentucky Derby, dies at 77
Diane Crump, who in 1969 became the first woman to ride professionally in a horse race and a year later became the first female jockey in the Kentucky Derby, has died.
·United States
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WASHINGTON — Diane Crump, who in 1969 became the first woman to compete as a professional horse rider in a horse race and, a year later, in the first to ride in Kentucky Derby, died at the age of 77. Crump was diagnosed in October with an aggressive form of brain cancer and died on Thursday night under palliative care in Winchester, Virginia, according to her daughter, Della Payne, to The Associated Press. Throughout her career, Crump accumulate…
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Leaning Left31Leaning Right6Center87Last UpdatedBias Distribution70% Center
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C 70%
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