James “Soup” Perkins was born in 1880 to parents who were enslaved and set free after the Civil War. “Soup,” so nicknamed because of his love for the food which coincidentally helped him keep a low weight for racing. Soup started racing at age 11. In 1895, at 90 pounds and in front of a record crowd of 20,000 people, he rode Halma to win his first Kentucky Derby.

At just 15 years old, Soup Perkins became the second youngest jockey to ever win the Kentucky Derby.

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