BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY : FIRST AFRICAN AERICAN STEWARD - DeSHAWN PARKER (JOCKEY) " IS HE OST SUCCESSFUL BLACK HORSE JOCKEY IN TODAY'S MODERN DERBIES WITH OVER 4000 VICTORIES : GOES INTO THE " HALL OF BLACK GENIUS "

 BLACK    SOCIAL  HISTORY                                                                 First African-American Steward: DeShawn Parker (Jockey)

Deshawn Parker is the most successful black horse jockey in today’s modern derbies with over 4,000 victories. In a sport that is now dominated by Latinos, Parker is the 54th highest-ranking jockey in racing history.

After sitting under the horse track rails playing in the dirt and watching his father exercise horses, DeShawn Parker, 4 or 5 years old at the time, would stand beside a towering horse. His father, Daryl, would yell, “Rescue!” then lean over, scoop up the young boy and plop him onto the horse.

DeShawn Parker went from jumping into his father’s arms at the Latonia, Ky., track to mounting horses, exercising them and finally compiling the most wins for an African-American jockey in the history of horse racing.

His father didn’t expect his son to make horse-racing history.

“I always took DeShawn to the race track with me,” Daryl Parker, 59, said from his home in Cincinnati, Ohio. “That was his treat. If he was good, he could go hang out with me at the track. He’s accomplished a lot more than I ever imagined. I thought he might make a nice living exercising horses and go on to play baseball. But his love for riding took over and he could not wait to get back to horses.”

Daryl Parker has his own page in horse racing’s history. In 1986, he was named the sport’s first African-American steward. Stewards enforce the rules at racetracks and review alleged violations. When he became a steward, he made an agreement with his son, who was 16 at the time: Promise to graduate from high school and you can try your hand at being a jockey.

Deshawn Parker is the most successful black horse jockey in today’s modern derbies with over 4,000 victories. In a sport that is now dominated by Latinos, Parker is the 54th highest-ranking jockey in racing history. Today, only 30 of the approximate 750 members of the national Jockey’s Guild are African American. According to recent stats, 42-year-old Parker has estimated earnings of over $47 million dollars. In 2010, Deshawn Parker became the first black jockey to win the most North American races since James “Soup” Perkins in 1895. Parker credits his success to the pioneering black jockeys of history likeIsaac Murphy, who was the first black sports millionaire in 1884.