BALTIMORE – Patti Cooksey remembers what the day was like when she became the first of just two women ever to ride in the Preakness.
“I was in there pretty much all alone,” Cooksey said, nodding toward the female jockeys’ quarters adjacent to the Pimlico Race Course indoor paddock. “There was a little TV in there. It was smaller than it is now that they’ve expanded it. I just kind of hung out by myself waiting to ride.”
Even though she finished sixth aboard longshot Tajawa later that afternoon in May 1985, Cooksey had established a legacy.