Retired jockey Diane Crump, 77, has been diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, reports the Louisville Courier-Journal. Crump entered palliative care in her Virginia home to live out the rest of her life “surrounded by love and her three beloved dachshunds,” according to a GoFundMe page created by her daughter Della Payne.
In 1969, Crump became the first woman to ride professionally in the United States, with her first race at Hialeah Park. She became the first woman to ride in the Kentucky Derby in 1970, and retired in 1999 with 235 wins.
In advance of the 50th anniversary of her Kentucky Derby debut, Crump’s story was told in the biography “Diane Crump: A Horse Racing Pioneer’s Life in the Saddle.” She gave the call for riders up at the 2020 Kentucky Derby.
“I want people to know that God gives you a dream for a reason, a love in your heart,” Crump told the Courier Journal in 2020. “If you follow that, if you don’t give up, you don’t give in, then you can attain more than you ever dreamed.”
Read more at courier-journal.com.