Nelly Davies

Nelly Davies, writer and daughter of Jimmy Winkfield, the first famous black jockey, comments on her book Jockey, noir et célèbre, Mon père cet inconnu (éditions du Rocher, 2009).

To come into the world at the end of the 19th century with black skin, in the middle of segregation, in a poor family from Kentucky, and to become an international star of the turf, rich and admired, this is the tour de force accomplished by James Winkfield, the father of Nelly Davies.
In Jockey, Black and Famous, My Father, the Unknown, Nelly Davies recounts her relationship with her father, his absence, and the side effects of fame. What extraordinary lives leave around them of expectations, of begged glances, of guarded kisses, of disappointed hopes, without ever, however, unraveling the link.