Diane Crump (born 1948) is an American jockey and horse trainer. A pioneer in the field of horse racing, in 1970, Diane Crump became the first female professional jockey & the first female jockey to ride in the Kentucky Derby.
There was so much hostility to a woman riding in a horse race that she needed a police escort to get to the Hialeah Park Race track in Florida. The angry crowd was yelling: βGo back to the kitchen and cook dinner.β
Diane Crump : "They thought I was going to be the downfall of the whole sport, which is such a medieval thought. I was like: βCome on people, this is the 1960s!β
Diane Crump & a small group of courageous female riders stood tall in the face of the prejudice against women and fought victorious battles in the court system to gain the right to become licensed jockeys.
A Derby win may have eluded her, but she scored more than 230 victories on track before leaving the sport in 1999.