Kentucky Firsts
Rosie Napravnik (pictured above) hopes to become the first woman to win the Kentucky Derby today.
Napravnik will be aboard Pants on Fire, on whom she won the Louisiana Derby.
Five women have ridden in the Kentucky Derby — the last was Rosemary Homeister in 2003 — but none has finished in the top 10.
Napravnik already has made some history. She’s the first female jockey to win the Louisiana Derby and the Fair Grounds riding title, finishing first on 110 of her 482 mounts to far outpace closest competitor James Graham (76 of 539).
Louisville is home to another important first: Carol Sutton.
Carol was a groundbreaking women’s page editor at the Louisville Courier Journal who became the first woman to become the managing editor of a major metropolitan daily newspaper. That position landed her on the cover of Time Magazine in 1975 – one of several “women of the year.” My article about Carol ran in American Journalism last year. She is a favorite research subject.
