William Walker (1860 – September 20, 1933) was an American

jockey A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used to describe the individual ...

. Born a

slave Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

in near

Versailles, Kentucky Versailles () is a home rule-class city in Woodford County, Kentucky, United States. It lies by road west of Lexington and is part of the Lexington-Fayette Metropolitan Statistical Area. Versailles has a population of 9,316 according to 2017 cen ...

, Billy Walker was the leading rider at

Churchill Downs Churchill Downs is a horse racing complex located on Central Avenue in south Louisville, Kentucky, United States, famed for hosting the annual Kentucky Derby. It officially opened in 1875 and was named for Samuel Churchill, whose family was ...

in the fall racing season of 1875-76 and the spring campaigns of 1876 through 1878. He was the winning rider aboard Ten Broeck in a famous July 4, 1878,

match race A match race is a race between two competitors, going head-to-head. In sailboat racing it is differentiated from a fleet race, which almost always involves three or more competitors competing against each other, and team racing where teams consis ...

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

, against the great

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

mare A mare is an adult female horse or other equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more than four ...

Mollie McCarty Mollie McCarty, (sometimes spelled Mollie McCarthy), foaled in 1873, was an outstanding California-based Thoroughbred racehorse who won her first 13 race starts and was second on the two occasions when she was defeated. Breeding Mollie McCarty ...

. For owner

Daniel Swigert Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength"), ...

and future U.S. Racing Hall of Fame trainer

Edward D. Brown Edward Dudley Brown (c. 1850 – May 11, 1906) was an American who, although born as a slave, rose to become a Belmont Stakes-winning jockey, a Kentucky Derby-winning horse trainer, and an owner of several of the top racehorses during the l ...

, Billy Walker rode

Baden-Baden Baden-Baden () is a spa town in the states of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg, south-western Germany, at the north-western border of the Black Forest mountain range on the small river Oos (river), Oos, ten kilometres (six miles) east of the ...

to victory in the

1877 Kentucky Derby The 1877 Kentucky Derby was the 3rd running of the Kentucky Derby. The race took place on May 22, 1877. The 1877 Derby was the first to attract a major celebrity spectator, Polish actress Helena Modjeska. Full results Payout The winner recei ...

. Walker made his fourth and final appearance in the 1896 Derby, finishing seventh. He retired that year but stayed in horse racing as a trainer and as an adviser to renowned

breeder A breeder is a person who selectively breeds carefully selected mates, normally of the same breed to sexually reproduce offspring with specific, consistently replicable qualities and characteristics. This might be as a farmer, agriculturalist, or ...

John E. Madden John Edward Madden (December 28, 1856 – November 3, 1929) was a prominent American Thoroughbred and Standardbred owner, breeder and trainer in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. He owned Hamburg Place Stud in Lexington, Kentucky ...

. Billy Walker died in 1933 and was buried at the Louisville Cemetery at the corner of

Eastern Parkway Eastern Parkway is a major road that runs through a portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, it was the world's first parkway, having been built between 1870 and 1874. At the time of ...

and Poplar Level Road. During the

1996 Kentucky Derby The 1996 Kentucky Derby was the 122nd running of the Kentucky Derby. The race took place on May 4, 1996. There were 142,668 in attendance. The loss by 7-2 favorite Unbridled's Song marked the 17th year in a row that the betting favorite failed to ...

Week, Churchill Downs erected a

headstone A headstone, tombstone, or gravestone is a stele or marker, usually stone, that is placed over a grave. It is traditional for burials in the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim religions, among others. In most cases, it has the deceased's name, da ...

on his previously unmarked grave with an epitaph outlining his career.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Billy 1860 births 1933 deaths 19th-century American slaves African-American jockeys American jockeys Jockeys from Louisville, Kentucky American horse trainers People from Versailles, Kentucky Horse trainers from Louisville, Kentucky 20th-century African-American people