IN DEVELOPMENT

Photo Finish: The Race of the Century

Created by the Project to Preserve African American Turf History (PPAATH), in partnership with James Walton Productions, our Kentucky-based non-profit organization has curated untold stories of early African-American achievement in horse racing since 2007.

Our relentless pursuit of equitable programming remains unbridled! We’re using this platform to increase diverse representation across American entertainment by focusing on 150-years of groundbreaking stories that symbiotically connect us (and correct us), sharing untold truths of who we were (and who we are) to mass audiences around the world.

Salvator vs. Tenny

Among the most famous horse races of the 19th century was a match race held at Sheepshead Bay Racetrack (Brooklyn, NY) on June 25, 1890. At the height of his career, Isaac Burns Murphy rode Salvator against his rival jockey Edward "Snapper" Garrison aboard Tenny. The race historically is considered to be one of the most thrilling horse races of all time in which the most dominant Black jockey from the south squared off against the most dominant White jockey from the north in an epic head-to-head match race.

In the opening of Jordan Peele’s $170,697,340 blockbuster feature “NOPE”, he references a milestone in the development of cinema: a famous series of photographs from the 19th century depicting a horse and jockey in motion. His point: according to a New York Times story, is that the identity of the horse and photographer are likely known, but the 'Black horse rider' is probably unknown, and from the start of movies, the camera — with its power to see — has left certain people, and certain stories, unseen!

To the right, Eadweard Muybridge's “Plate Number 626, 1887,” Animal Locomotion, the study of a horse in motion courtesy of the National Gallery of Art. “The very first assembly of photographs used to create a motion picture”, referenced in the film “NOPE”.

ABOUT US

The Project to Preserve African American Turf History is the umbrella organization that provides all historical and educational resources to our film and production company, ‘Bet the World Entertainment’, LLC. As an industry-leading changemaker, our sports-centric media and entertainment company strives to create culturally-inclusive content in the horseracing space that focuses on economic equity and inclusion across commercial films, digital media, live sports, and televised formats.

Current projects slated for development include: “The Isaac Murphy Image Awards,” an annual Derby-themed showpiece where some of the biggest names in entertainment have participated in the Awards program, “Photo Finish: The Race of the Century”, the first Black-Biopic horseracing film in North America, consulting producers on Become The Wind, a new horse racing feature co-produced by Max Adler alongside Better Late Than Never (BLTN) Productions, and the World Riding Championships of Thoroughbred Racing, a global racing and gaming venture with plans of developing an international team championship for horse racing.

Each of these projects serves as creative pathways to drive economic development across new business verticals that promotes socially responsible content across the global media landscape and beyond!

According to Forbes, in 2021, Black buying power was estimated at approximately $1.5 trillion which made this demographic the focal point for advertisers, corporations, marketers, and researchers alike. Source: Forbes | Dec 6, 2021