Diane Crump, first female jockey to ride in the Kentucky Derby, has died
Diane Crump, the first woman to ride professionally at a major Thoroughbred track and the first female jockey to ride in the Kentucky Derby, has died at age 77.
Crump died Thursday after a recent diagnosis of glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, her daughter, Della Payne, said in a post on GoFundMe.
“Diane Crump was an iconic trailblazer who admirably fulfilled her childhood dreams,” Mike Anderson, president of Churchill Downs Racetrack, said in a statement.
“As the first female to ride professionally at a major Thoroughbred racetrack in 1969 and to become the first female to ride in the Kentucky Derby one year later, she will forever be respected and fondly remembered in horse racing lore. The entire Churchill Downs family extends our condolences to her family and friends.”
She is credited with 228 wins and 1,682 starts, according to Equibase.
Crump, a native of Connecticut, began riding at age 5 and was riding Thoroughbreds by age 13, soon after her family’s move to Florida.
She rode her first professional race at Hialeah Park in 1969. Armed guards escorted her at the track for her first race.
“People hollered all the time,” she told Herald-Leader racing writer Maryjean Wall in 1995. “Things like, ‘Go home and make dinner,’ or ‘Go home and make babies.’”
The following year, Crump made history again when she rode Fathom to a 15th-place finish in the Kentucky Derby.
Just five other women have ridden in the Derby since.
Crump was still racing at age 45, when she told Wall in the 1995 article that her dreams were still alive, even after recovering from a compound fracture that landed her in bed for more than two months.
“My gift from God is racehorses,” Crump said then. “There’s no day, no matter how much I struggle or hurt, that I get on my horses and I’m not totally happy.”
Crump also worked as a trainer and later founded Diane Crump Equine Sales, helping connect horse owners and buyers.
In her later years, she devoted time to taking her three dachshunds to hospitals and nursing homes as therapy animals in Virginia, where she lived.
Payne wrote in an update on GoFundMe that her mother “ended her life surrounded by friends and family.”
“Thank you for being the best support system,” she wrote. “We have been truly blessed by your generosity and kindness. I hope my mom’s legacy of following dreams and helping others continue through those that were touched by her amazing life.”
This story was originally published January 2, 2026 at 8:00 PM with the headline "Diane Crump, first female jockey to ride in the Kentucky Derby, has died."
