The Harlem Race Track, which opened in 1894, at Hannah and Roosevelt was managed by the Harlem Jockey Club. In 1900, Isaac Lewis was a groom at the club, along with several other African Americans from Kentucky. Lewis, 17 years old, worked with horses growing up, and he would become the winning jockey at the 13th running of the Kentucky Derby on the horse, Montrose. The Harlem racetrack stopped having races around 1906, converting to a golf course. In the 1910 census, Isaac Lewis is listed in Chicago, managing a Turkish bath.
Jill Wagner
Photo: Isacc Lewis is the jockey shown here on Montrose, a thoroughbred horse, who won the Kentucky Derby on May 11, 1887. The duo had 10-1 odds, but at that fateful derby, Lewis guided the colt through traffic and at the stretch, pushed Montrose to win easily by three-quarters of a length, in a time of 2:39 1/4.
