Alonzo Clayton
Encyclopedia
Alonzo "Lonnie" Clayton (1876 - March 17, 1917) was an American
jockey
in Thoroughbred
horse racing
described by author Edward Hotaling, as "one of the great riders of the New York circuit all through the 1890s” and who holds the record as the youngest jockey to ever win the Kentucky Derby
.
An African American
, Lonnie Clayton was born in Kansas City, Missouri
, one of the nine children of Robert and Evaline Clayton. At age ten, his family moved to North Little Rock, Arkansas
where he attended school and worked as a gofer
for a hotel and as a shoeshine boy
to help support his family. According to the Central Arkansas Library System's Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture, a correspondent for the Thoroughbred Record wrote in 1896 that Clayton attended school and was considered "exceptionally bright."
At age twelve the diminutive Lonnie Clayton left home and made his way north to Chicago's
Washington Park Race Track
where his brother Albertus was a jockey
for prominent Thoroughbred
horse racing
stable owner, Lucky Baldwin
. Lonnie Clayton was given a job as a stablehand and exercise rider for the Baldwin stable then the following year he moved east to the Clifton Race Track in New Jersey
where in 1890 the fourteen-year-old began his professional riding career. Immediately successful, in 1891 at Morris Park Racetrack in The Bronx
, New York
, Clayton won the important Champagne Stakes aboard Bashford Manor Stable's
two-year-old colt, Azra
. On May 11, 1892 he rode Azra to victory in the Kentucky Derby
which at age fifteen made him the youngest jockey in history to ever win the Derby. Clayton and Azra followed up their Derby success with victories in the Clark Handicap
and the Travers Stakes
.
At Monmouth Park in New Jersey
Clayton won the 1893 Monmouth Handicap and went on to win the fall riding title at Churchill Downs
. One of the leading money winners on the East Coast
racing circuit during the 1890s, he won races from New York
to California
. He captured back-to-back runnings of the Kentucky Oaks
in 1894 and 1895, the latter a year in which he won 144 races and finished in the money sixty percent of the time. In 1895 he won the Arkansas Derby
and in 1896 finished third in the Preakness Stakes
aboard the filly, Intermission.
However, by the turn of the 20th Century, racism
began to raise its ugly head and opportunities to ride soon vanished as stable owners switched to using white
riders only. Within a few years, African-American jockeys, who had dominated racing for centuries and who had played a major role in bringing Thoroughbred racing to the forefront of American sport, were forced out of the business. Since 1909, no African-American jockey has ridden a winner in any major American Graded stakes race
. An 1896 report and a 1900 report in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle
stated that Clayton planned to join other black jockeys riding in Europe
but no records have been found to confirm he actually went there.
Lonnie Clayton's success had allowed him to acquire a property in Little Rock, Arkansas upon which he competed construction of a new home in early 1895. Described by the Arkansas Gazette
as the "finest house on the North Side," it was designed in the fashion of Queen Anne Style architecture
. An astute businessman, in 1897 Clayton also built a commercial building at 617-619 Main Street in Little Rock, which stood until about 1980. However, denied the right to earn a living in racing, he was forced to sell his investment property and his home. His residence is today known as Engelberger House and since 1990 has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places
.
Clayton lived his last few years in California
where he worked as a hotel bellhop
. He died at age forty-one on March 17, 1917 of chronic pulmonary tuberculosis
. He is buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Los Angeles.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
jockey
Jockey
A jockey is an athlete who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing.-Etymology:...
in Thoroughbred
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...
horse racing
Horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...
described by author Edward Hotaling, as "one of the great riders of the New York circuit all through the 1890s” and who holds the record as the youngest jockey to ever win the Kentucky Derby
Kentucky Derby
The Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses, held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter mile at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry...
.
An African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
, Lonnie Clayton was born in Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, one of the nine children of Robert and Evaline Clayton. At age ten, his family moved to North Little Rock, Arkansas
North Little Rock, Arkansas
the city was 62.55% White, 33.98% Black or African American, 0.41% Native American, 0.59% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 1.18% from other races, and 1.26% from two or more races...
where he attended school and worked as a gofer
Gofer
A gofer or go-fer is an employee who is often sent on errands. "Gofer" reflects the likelihood of instructions to go for coffee, dry cleaning, or stamps, or to make other straightforward or familiar procurements. The term gofer originated in North America...
for a hotel and as a shoeshine boy
Shoeshiner
Shoeshiner or boot polisher is a profession in which a person polishes shoes with shoe polish. They are often known as shoeshine boys because the job is traditionally that of a male child. In the leather fetish communities, they are often called bootblacks...
to help support his family. According to the Central Arkansas Library System's Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture, a correspondent for the Thoroughbred Record wrote in 1896 that Clayton attended school and was considered "exceptionally bright."
At age twelve the diminutive Lonnie Clayton left home and made his way north to Chicago's
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
Washington Park Race Track
Washington Park Race Track
Washington Park Race Track was a popular horse racing venue in the Chicago metropolitan area from 1884 until 1977. It had two locations during its existence. It was first situated in what is the current location of the Washington Park Subdivision of the Woodlawn community area of Chicago in Cook...
where his brother Albertus was a jockey
Jockey
A jockey is an athlete who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing.-Etymology:...
for prominent Thoroughbred
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...
horse racing
Horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...
stable owner, Lucky Baldwin
Lucky Baldwin
Elias Jackson "Lucky" Baldwin was a prominent California businessman and investor of the second half of the 19th century.-Biography:...
. Lonnie Clayton was given a job as a stablehand and exercise rider for the Baldwin stable then the following year he moved east to the Clifton Race Track in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
where in 1890 the fourteen-year-old began his professional riding career. Immediately successful, in 1891 at Morris Park Racetrack in The Bronx
The Bronx
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, Clayton won the important Champagne Stakes aboard Bashford Manor Stable's
Bashford Manor Stable
Bashford Manor Stable was an American Thoroughbred racing and breeding operation in Louisville, Kentucky owned by George James Long.In 1874 James Bennett Wilder built a home on farm acreage he called Bashford Manor. In 1887 George Long purchased Bashford Manor and developed it into a leading...
two-year-old colt, Azra
Azra (horse)
Azra was an American Thoroughbred racehorse. He was bred in Kentucky by George J. Long and raced under the colors of his Bashford Manor Stable. His sire was Reform, a son of the very important sire Leamington. Azra was out of the mare Albia whose sire, Alarm, also sired Himyar.Trained by John H....
. On May 11, 1892 he rode Azra to victory in the Kentucky Derby
Kentucky Derby
The Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses, held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter mile at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry...
which at age fifteen made him the youngest jockey in history to ever win the Derby. Clayton and Azra followed up their Derby success with victories in the Clark Handicap
Clark Handicap
The Clark Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually in late November/early December at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. Among the oldest races in the United States, it was first run in 1875, the year the racetrack opened for business...
and the Travers Stakes
Travers Stakes
The Travers Stakes is an American Grade I Thoroughbred horse race held at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York.First held in 1864, it was named for William R. Travers, the president of the old Saratoga Racing Association. His horse, Kentucky, won the first running of the Travers...
.
At Monmouth Park in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
Clayton won the 1893 Monmouth Handicap and went on to win the fall riding title at Churchill Downs
Churchill Downs
Churchill Downs, located in Central Avenue in south Louisville, Kentucky, United States, is a Thoroughbred racetrack most famous for hosting the Kentucky Derby annually. It officially opened in 1875, and held the first Kentucky Derby and the first Kentucky Oaks in the same year. Churchill Downs...
. One of the leading money winners on the East Coast
East Coast of the United States
The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, refers to the easternmost coastal states in the United States, which touch the Atlantic Ocean and stretch up to Canada. The term includes the U.S...
racing circuit during the 1890s, he won races from New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. He captured back-to-back runnings of the Kentucky Oaks
Kentucky Oaks
The Kentucky Oaks is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred fillies staged annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. The race currently covers 1⅛ miles at Churchill Downs; the horses carry 121 pounds . The Kentucky Oaks is held on the Friday before the Kentucky Derby each year...
in 1894 and 1895, the latter a year in which he won 144 races and finished in the money sixty percent of the time. In 1895 he won the Arkansas Derby
Arkansas Derby
The Arkansas Derby is an American flat Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds held annually at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas. It is currently a Grade I race run over a distance of 9 furlongs on dirt....
and in 1896 finished third in the Preakness Stakes
Preakness Stakes
The Preakness Stakes is an American flat Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds held on 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 dirt. Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds ; fillies 121 lb...
aboard the filly, Intermission.
However, by the turn of the 20th Century, racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
began to raise its ugly head and opportunities to ride soon vanished as stable owners switched to using white
White people
White people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...
riders only. Within a few years, African-American jockeys, who had dominated racing for centuries and who had played a major role in bringing Thoroughbred racing to the forefront of American sport, were forced out of the business. Since 1909, no African-American jockey has ridden a winner in any major American Graded stakes race
Graded stakes race
A graded stakes race is a term applied since 1973 by the American Graded Stakes Committee of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association to thoroughbred horse races in the United States and Canada to describe races that derive their name from the stake, or entry fee, owners must pay...
. An 1896 report and a 1900 report in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Brooklyn Eagle
The Brooklyn Daily Bulletin began publishing when the original Eagle folded in 1955. In 1996 it merged with a newly revived Brooklyn Daily Eagle, and now publishes a morning paper five days a week under the Brooklyn Daily Eagle name...
stated that Clayton planned to join other black jockeys riding in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
but no records have been found to confirm he actually went there.
Lonnie Clayton's success had allowed him to acquire a property in Little Rock, Arkansas upon which he competed construction of a new home in early 1895. Described by the Arkansas Gazette
Arkansas Gazette
The Arkansas Gazette, known as the oldest newspaper west of the Mississippi River, and located from 1908 until its October 18, 1991 closing at the now historic Gazette Building, was for many years the newspaper of record for Little Rock and the State of Arkansas...
as the "finest house on the North Side," it was designed in the fashion of Queen Anne Style architecture
Queen Anne Style architecture
The Queen Anne Style in Britain means either the English Baroque architectural style roughly of the reign of Queen Anne , or a revived form that was popular in the last quarter of the 19th century and the early decades of the 20th century...
. An astute businessman, in 1897 Clayton also built a commercial building at 617-619 Main Street in Little Rock, which stood until about 1980. However, denied the right to earn a living in racing, he was forced to sell his investment property and his home. His residence is today known as Engelberger House and since 1990 has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
.
Clayton lived his last few years in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
where he worked as a hotel bellhop
Bellhop
A bellhop, also bellboy or bellman, is a hotel porter, who helps patrons with their luggage while checking in or out. Bellhops often wear a uniform , like certain other page boys or doormen...
. He died at age forty-one on March 17, 1917 of chronic pulmonary tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
. He is buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Los Angeles.