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Kathy Kusner, didn't hit the winners circle very often in her seven years of racing, but still has to merit consideration as the first lady of racing. Well she really was, the first lady of racing, she may not have rode the first, or been the first female to win a race, but she was the first woman who could race.
In 1967, Kusner, tried to get a jockeys license in Maryland, her request was rejected, the racing commission stated it wouldn't be fair for an amateur to compete against professionals. Undaunted, Kusner took them to court and it 1968, won her suit against the racing commission. She was the first woman granted a jockey's license in the United States. Unfortunately, Kusner suffered a broken leg before she would ride professionally.
Her first ride, that I could document came on September 30, 1969 at Pocono Downs. Long after fellow female jockeys, Diane Crump and Barbara Jo Rubin had taken the first rider and race winner laurels off the table. Kusner would ride till 1975, sticking mostly to the Maryland, West Virginia circuits, but flat racing was probably not her passion.
Kusner, was an accomplished Equestrian rider, she achieved more fame in the ring, then on the oval. A member of the United States Equestrian Team, she competed in many international events and won a silver medal in the 1972, Munich Olympics. At one event in South Africa, she was granted a temporary jockeys license and rode five races at a local track, winning two. She was also featured on an ABC Sports program about athletes competing in a different sport, when she rode in a steeplechase race at Saratoga Race Course. In 1990, Kusner was inducted in the Show Jumping Hall of Fame.
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