Alonzo Clayton

Alonzo Clayton (4 January 1876 to 17 March 1917), known as Lonnie, was an African American Thoroughbred jockey described by the author Edward Hotaling as one of the great riders of the New York circuit all through the 1890s. Most likely born in Mississippi, he moved with his family to North Little Rock, Arkansas, left home at twelve for Chicago's Washington Park Race Track and began his professional riding career in 1890 at fourteen. On 11 May 1892 he rode Azra to victory in the Kentucky Derby at the age of fifteen, which made him the youngest jockey in history to win the race. He also won the Champagne Stakes, the Clark Handicap, the Travers Stakes, back-to-back runnings of the Kentucky Oaks in 1894 and 1895, and the 1895 Arkansas Derby, and in 1895 he won 144 races.