On the commemoration of civil rights icon Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday today, January 21, 2019, read this gripping account HERE of how the Kentucky Derby played a role in the ultimate passage of the Kentucky Fair Housing Act, and how the 1967 Derby almost didn’t happen . . . but when the race finally did go off, the ultimate winner, Proud Clarion, clearly felt none of the tension outside the gates of Churchill Downs. His blue-collar race history belied his fancy pedigree. He had only one big-time stakes race under his collar, and not a single stakes win in his life. He landed a jockey, Bobby Ussery, just two days before the race. And he was heading in to the race at 30–1 odds. Nobody believed in Proud Clarion. Like the working-class citizens of Louisville’s black community, Proud Clarion had not a lot to lose, but a whole world to win . . .
Two Horses, Two Races: The Civil Rights Movement Goes To The Kentucky Derby