Aqueduct Names Stakes in Honor of Jockey Winkfield

Aqueduct has named a stakes race in honor of the late Hall of Fame jockey Jimmy Winkfield. The inaugural $75,000 Jimmy Winkfield Stakes will be held on Martin Luther King Day (Jan. 17, 2005) and is for 3-year-old fillies going six furlongs.

This announcement follows the release of the biography, "WINK: The Incredible Life and Epic Journey of Jimmy Winkfield" by Ed Hotaling, published by McGraw-Hill (November, 2004), and comes on the heels of Wink's induction into the National Racing Hall of Fame. The book has an endorsement by "Seabiscuit" author Laura Hillenbrand.

"This is a spectacular confirmation of Jimmy Winkfield's contribution to American and world racing, and to the contributions of all the great black jockeys whose deeds have gone unnoticed for so long," says WINK author Ed Hotaling. "It is extremely fitting that the Jimmy Winkfield Stakes should take place on Martin Luther King Day, thus honoring two great American pioneers in the field of civil rights."

A native of Chilesburg, Ky, Winkfield won back-to-back runnings of the Kentucky Derby aboard His Eminence in 1901 and Alan-A-Dale in 1902. By the time of his retirement in 1930, Winkfield had won more than 2,600 races. He died in Maisons-Laffitte, France on March 23, 1974.

Winkfield was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. this past August.