Crump went on to win 228 races before riding her last race in 1998, a month shy of her 50th birthday and nearly 30 years after her trailblazing ride at Hialeah Park in Florida on Feb. 7, 1969.

Diane Crump, a jockey who in 1970 became the first woman to ride in the Kentucky Derby, died Thursday in Winchester, Virginia. She was 77.

She was the first professional female jockey to compete at a track in the United States where betting was legal, and notched up 228 career victories.

She was the first professional female jockey to compete at a track in the United States where betting was legal, and notched up 228 career victories.