Willie Simms (January 16, 1870 – February 26, 1927) was an American National Champion

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 ...

in Thoroughbred racing and a U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee who won five of the races that would become the U.S. Triple Crown series. An African American, Simms began racing in 1887 and was one of the most successful jockeys using the short-stirrup style (which gave the rider a crouching posture). En route to winning the United States riding title in 1893 and 1894, Simms won back-to-back

Belmont Stakes The Belmont Stakes is an American Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds run at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is run over 1.5 miles (2,400 m). Colts and geldings carry a weight of ; fillies carry . The race, nicknamed Th ...

. On August 17, 1894, Willie Simms won the first five races at Jerome Park Racetrack and finished second in the sixth and last race of the day. All five of Simms' winners were trained by Hardy Campbell Jr. In 1895, the ''

Boston Post ''The Boston Post'' was a daily newspaper in New England for over a hundred years before it folded in 1956. The ''Post'' was founded in November 1831 by two prominent Boston, Massachusetts, Boston businessmen, Charles Gordon Greene, Charles G. Gr ...

'' reported Willie Simms was among the elite jockeys and was earning more than $10,500 a year. (US$315,548 in 2018) That year he raced in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, where he became the first American jockey to win with an American horse in that country. Back in the United States, Simms won the 1896

Kentucky Derby The Kentucky Derby is a horse race held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, almost always on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The competition is a Grade I stakes race for three-year ...

in its first running at 1¼ miles on

Ben Brush Ben Brush (1893–1918) was a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 1896 Kentucky Derby. Walter Vosburgh, for whom the Vosburgh Stakes is named, said Bramble was "a breed as tough as pine nuts." On May 6, 1896, Bramble and Ros ...

. He repeated as the Derby winner in 1898, aboard Plaudit. Before the advent of the term "Triple Crown" and the importance of the U.S. Triple Crown series, Simms went on to take the

Preakness Stakes The Preakness Stakes is an American thoroughbred horse race held on Armed Forces Day which is also the third Saturday in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. It is a Grade I race run over a distance of 9.5 furlongs () on ...

a few weeks later on a different horse,

Sly Fox ''Sly Fox'' is a comedic play by Larry Gelbart, based on Ben Jonson's ''Volpone'' (''The Fox''), updating the setting from Renaissance Venice to 19th century San Francisco, and changing the tone from satire to farce. The play revolves around the ...

. He is the only

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

jockey to win all three Triple Crown races. During his 14-year career, Willie Simms rode some of the great

Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are c ...

racehorses of the day such as two-time

American Horse of the Year The American Award for Horse of the Year, one of the Eclipse Awards, is the highest honor given in American thoroughbred horse racing. Because Thoroughbred horse racing in the United States has no governing body to sanction the various awards, "Hor ...

, Henry of Navarre. Willie Simms finished his riding career with 1,125 wins and in 1977 was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame His name was frequently misspelled as "Sims" by media of his era.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simms, Willie 1870 births 1927 deaths American Champion jockeys African-American jockeys American jockeys Sportspeople from Augusta, Georgia United States Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame inductees 20th-century African-American people