Willie Simms (January 16, 1870 – February 26, 1927) was an American National Champion

jockey A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase (horse racing), steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used ...

Thoroughbred racing Thoroughbred racing is a sport and industry involving the racing of Thoroughbred horses. It is governed by different national bodies. There are two forms of the sport – flat racing and jump racing, the latter known as National Hunt racing in ...

and a U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee who won five of the races that would become the U.S. Triple Crown series. An African American, Simms began racing in 1887 and was one of the most successful jockeys using the short-stirrup style (which gave the rider a crouching posture). En route to winning the United States riding title in 1893 and 1894, Simms won back-to-back

Belmont Stakes The Belmont Stakes is an American Graded stakes race, Grade I stakes Thoroughbred racing, race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds run at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is run over the worldwide classic distance of . Colt (horseracing), Colt ...

. On August 17, 1894, Willie Simms won the first five races at

Jerome Park Racetrack Jerome Park Racetrack was an American Thoroughbred horse race, thoroughbred horse racing facility from 1866 until 1894. It was located in a part of Westchester County, New York that was annexed into New_York_City, the city of New York in 1874. Je ...

and finished second in the sixth and last race of the day. All five of Simms' winners were trained by Hardy Campbell Jr. In 1895, the ''

Boston Post ''The Boston Post'' was a daily newspaper in New England for over a hundred years before its final shutdown in 1956. The ''Post'' was founded in November 1831 by two prominent Boston businessmen, Charles G. Greene and William Beals. Edwin Groz ...

'' reported Willie Simms was among the elite jockeys and was earning more than $10,500 a year. (US$315,548 in 2018) That year he raced in

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, where he became the first American jockey to win with an American horse in that country. Back in the United States, Simms won the 1896

Kentucky Derby The Kentucky Derby () is an American Graded stakes race, Grade I stakes Thoroughbred racing, race run at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. The race is run by three-year-old Thoroughbreds at a distance of . Colt (horse), Colts and geldin ...

in its first running at 1¼ miles on

Ben Brush Ben Brush (1893–1918) was a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 1896 Kentucky Derby. Background Ben Brush was a bay stallion sired by Bramble (the 1879 champion handicap horse) out of Roseville (a sister to Azra, the 1892 ...

. He repeated as the Derby winner in 1898, aboard Plaudit. Before the advent of the term "Triple Crown" and the importance of the U.S. Triple Crown series, Simms went on to take the

Preakness Stakes The Preakness Stakes is an American thoroughbred horse race held annually on Armed Forces Day, the third Saturday in May at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland (except in 2026 when it will move to Laurel Park (race track), Laurel Park dur ...

a few weeks later on a different horse,

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. He is the only

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

jockey to win all three Triple Crown races. During his 14-year career, Willie Simms rode some of the great

Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a list of horse breeds, horse breed developed for Thoroughbred racing, horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thorough ...

racehorses of the day such as two-time

American Horse of the Year The American Award for Horse of the Year, or simply Horse of the Year, one of the Eclipse Awards, is the highest honor given in American thoroughbred horse racing. Because Thoroughbred horse racing in the United States has no governing body to san ...

, Henry of Navarre. Willie Simms finished his riding career with 1,125 wins and in 1977 was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame His name was frequently misspelled as "Sims" by media of his era.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simms, Willie 1870 births 1927 deaths American Champion jockeys African-American jockeys American jockeys Sportspeople from Augusta, Georgia United States Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame inductees 20th-century African-American sportsmen