The environment in which Crump and other women attempted to make it in the horse racing world was far from friendly. On her way to her first professional race, the crowd was so large that Diane Crump needed a police escort to get to the race track.
"The crowd was just swarming all over me. They were crazy, up in arms, the hecklers were yelling: 'Go back to the kitchen and cook dinner.' That was the mentality at the time.They thought I was going to be the downfall of the whole sport, which is such a medieval thought. I was like: 'Come on people, this is the 1960s!'" (McKenzie).
She may not have won the race, finishing 10th out of 12, but Diane Crump became the first women to compete in a pari-mutuel (professional gambling) race. With her career off and running, two weeks later she got her first win, and in her first year she would amount a total of 40 wins.
"Crump explained half the battle, as she fought to ride professionally, was simply getting male jockeys to compete against her. In 1968 two female riders had been forced to drop out of their races after the male jockeys boycotted the race, even going to the extent of throwing stones at the women's changing room trailers. 'People were saying we weren't strong enough or smart enough to ride in a pari-mutuel race,' Crump said. 'They thought it would be dangerous for other people to ride against us because we wouldn't know what to do under pressure'"(McKenzie).
Male jockeys also argued that women didn't have the strength to handle the horses, but Diane quickly dismisses that argument. "You know what? None of us is that strong when compared to a horse. It’s the feel you have for them that matters. If you can get along with them, relate to them, those are the things that make you a horse person and a rider. Brute strength has no relevance at all in the real world” of racing" (Simon).
"Despite incessant jabber over a woman’s lack of muscle power, Crump often found herself stuck on the most incorrigible of horses. She is on record as having won 235 races, many of those aboard rogues and outlaws. 'It was a tough road that never got easier. It was always hard getting mounts,'she recalls, especially “live” ones, a fact that clearly still rankles. 'I got on every puke that no one else wanted to ride. If they reared up, if they ran off, if they were stupid, that’s what I got. I had to prove myself over and over and over again. That went on for years'” (Simon).
Crump didn't let the hostile atmosphere of the male jockeys get to her, and on May 2, 1970 Diane Crump got the opportunity to ride in the Kentucky Derby. She became the first woman to ride in the Kentucky Derby, "a race that only six women have taken part in since it was first run in 1875" (McKenzie). Crump had opened the door for woman to enter the world of horse racing."Somebody had to open the door. It wasn't all down to me but I think I was a big part of that.The mentality in the 1960s was that women weren't smart or strong enough to be jockeys. But I proved that a woman could do the job.I like to think I was a little footprint on the path to equality." (McKenzie)
"The crowd was just swarming all over me. They were crazy, up in arms, the hecklers were yelling: 'Go back to the kitchen and cook dinner.' That was the mentality at the time.They thought I was going to be the downfall of the whole sport, which is such a medieval thought. I was like: 'Come on people, this is the 1960s!'" (McKenzie).
She may not have won the race, finishing 10th out of 12, but Diane Crump became the first women to compete in a pari-mutuel (professional gambling) race. With her career off and running, two weeks later she got her first win, and in her first year she would amount a total of 40 wins.
"Crump explained half the battle, as she fought to ride professionally, was simply getting male jockeys to compete against her. In 1968 two female riders had been forced to drop out of their races after the male jockeys boycotted the race, even going to the extent of throwing stones at the women's changing room trailers. 'People were saying we weren't strong enough or smart enough to ride in a pari-mutuel race,' Crump said. 'They thought it would be dangerous for other people to ride against us because we wouldn't know what to do under pressure'"(McKenzie).
Male jockeys also argued that women didn't have the strength to handle the horses, but Diane quickly dismisses that argument. "You know what? None of us is that strong when compared to a horse. It’s the feel you have for them that matters. If you can get along with them, relate to them, those are the things that make you a horse person and a rider. Brute strength has no relevance at all in the real world” of racing" (Simon).
"Despite incessant jabber over a woman’s lack of muscle power, Crump often found herself stuck on the most incorrigible of horses. She is on record as having won 235 races, many of those aboard rogues and outlaws. 'It was a tough road that never got easier. It was always hard getting mounts,'she recalls, especially “live” ones, a fact that clearly still rankles. 'I got on every puke that no one else wanted to ride. If they reared up, if they ran off, if they were stupid, that’s what I got. I had to prove myself over and over and over again. That went on for years'” (Simon).
Crump didn't let the hostile atmosphere of the male jockeys get to her, and on May 2, 1970 Diane Crump got the opportunity to ride in the Kentucky Derby. She became the first woman to ride in the Kentucky Derby, "a race that only six women have taken part in since it was first run in 1875" (McKenzie). Crump had opened the door for woman to enter the world of horse racing."Somebody had to open the door. It wasn't all down to me but I think I was a big part of that.The mentality in the 1960s was that women weren't smart or strong enough to be jockeys. But I proved that a woman could do the job.I like to think I was a little footprint on the path to equality." (McKenzie)