The 139th running of the Kentucky Derby this weekend will feature Kevin Krigger who was born in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Kevin Krigger was born on October, 23, 1983 - ST CROIX, VI USA. He moved to the USA at age 18 and won his first race in the Santa Anna Derby in 2001, climbed the ladder, winning 139 races in 2005 before slipping to 11 wins in 2008-09, before regaining his footing and winning 165 races in 2011. Krigger is the first African-American jockey to ride in the Derby in more than a decade.

When asked if what it feels like to be a trail blazed Krigger said “I don’t know about being a trailblazer but I feel good about the race.”

Krigger, riding riding Goldencents said, "I'm going to be the first African-American to win the Kentucky Derby since 1902. And that's a hell of a milestone."

African-American jockeys are rare now, but they used to dominate the sport. Most of the jockeys in the first Derby were black, including the winner. In later years, there were legendary black jockeys who won multiple Derbys and earned international fame.

African Americans were the norm in horse racing until the latter 1890s, when Jim Crow, segregation and the movement of African-Americans from the rural South for the cities contributed to a takeover by “whites” of horse racing in the 20th century