The Kentucky Derby — the glamorous, tradition-soaked crown jewel of American horse racing, which arrives annually in May — has always carried a complicated Black legacy. Black jockeys dominated its earliest years, winning 15 of the first 28 races before racism pushed them out of the sport.
Today, the Kentucky Derby is best known for its opulent, high-society fashion, which includes flamboyant hats, as well as its elite, international guest list. But according to Tina Knowles, even amidst all that grandeur, racism still lurks.
Or at least, that was her experience.
In Peacock’s new three-part documentary “High Horse: The Black Cowboy,” the 71-year-old matriarch recalls attending the 2024 Kentucky Derby and being pushed aside on the red carpet so a white couple could go ahead of her.
“It was a very big wake-up call for me to attend the Kentucky Derby and to see this closed-off culture,” Knowles says. “I mean, just blatant.”
The Texas native remembers standing next in line to walk the carpet when a handler approached, stammering about how Knowles couldn’t be next because they “needed…” before she cut in and asked, “A white person?” Moments later, the staff escorted a white couple from behind her and ushered them down the carpet.
“It’s racially charged there,” she says in the documentary. “There’s a lot of racially charged energy.”
The Kentucky Derby did not immediately return requests to comment to theGrio.
“High Horse,” executive produced by Jordan Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions, aims to reclaim the overlooked legacy by tracing Black contributions to Western and Southern culture (including the Derby)—and the forces that sought to erase them.
During the documentary, Knowles also recalls that as she was being waved aside at the Derby, her oldest daughter was facing her own reckoning with the culture’s blind spots. Knowles saw the criticism Beyoncé’s Grammy-winning “Cowboy Carter” album drew for “appropriating” country music a product of sheer ignorance about the genre’s Black roots.
As for the claims that Beyoncé is somehow “rewriting” country history? Knowles pushes back. “No, you rewrote the history,” she says. “We’re just going back and straightening the story out.”
“High Horse: The Black Cowboy” is streaming now on Peacock.
