Black equine and ag industry leaders honored
Several local pioneers were celebrated as the traveling “Heart of the Turf: Racing’s Black Pioneers” exhibit remains on display in Ocala.
Shameka Murphy, David Cayson Jr., Kennedi Cayson-Collins and Ella Cayson, left to right, pose together during a reception for the “The Heart of the Turf: Racing’s Black Pioneers Exhibit” in the Black History Museum at the Howard Academy Community Center in Ocala, Fla. on Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2025.
Several Black pioneers and leaders in the Marion County agricultural and equine industries were honored Sept. 18 at the Marion County Black History Museum at the Howard Academy Community Center in Ocala.
The meet and greet event was organized as the national traveling exhibit “The Heart of the Turf: Racing’s Black Pioneers” remains on display at the museum through the end of the month.
The exhibit, which was put together by the Keeneland Library of Lexington, Kentucky, chronicles horse racing’s Black pioneers from 1782 to 2022, with hundreds of photos from the library’s collection and text on a series of interpretive panels.
Keeneland Library curator Roda Ferraro said in a phone interview that the traveling display came to Ocala/Marion County because of horse industry connections.
The exhibit was displayed at On Top of the World communities in August as part of the Master the Possibilities program and is set to be displayed at the Stone Creek Golf Club on Oct. 3 as part of the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association’s golf tournament and brunch. It then will be on display at the FTBOA gallery from Oct. 5-31.
Tammy Gantt, vice president of member services with FTBOA; Davida Randolph, the Howard Academy Community Center program manager; and Cynthia Wilson Graham, a museum volunteer and author; were the prime movers in organizing the exhibit locally and the museum event. Museum secretary Barbara Brooks and volunteers Regis Boatwright, Candace Shelton and Audrietta Coleman-Izlar worked at the meet and greet.
Most of the honorees at the event Thursday evening served in their industries from the 1960s through the 2000s and later and helped make Marion County the Horse Capital of the World.
Master blacksmith and farrier, Raymond Wheeler, a 40-year veteran of the local equine industry, was among those honored as leaders and pioneers in the local farming, ranching and horse farm industries, according to the event program.
Wheeler said he was pleased that the contribution of many Black members of the equine industry has “finally come to light”
Among the Black influencers of the local equine industry was Melvin James, a native of Fairfield in northwest Marion County, the first licensed Black thoroughbred trainer in the county, who trained Triple Crown winner Affirmed and collaborated for many years with University of Florida researchers on equine projects, according to the program.
The honorees included Lugusta “Gus” Gray, a 55-year veteran of the thoroughbred industry, first Black Marion County Agricultural Hall of Fame inductee and recipient of the international Godolphin Award for excellence in the thoroughbred industry, as well as David Cayson, 76, who worked for 30 years at the 5,000-acre Hooper Farm and 10 years at Double Diamond Farm. He has served as a groom, trainer and foreman during his career and worked with horses like Susan Girl and Precisionist.
Willie Jones Sr., 85, was “widely recognized” for skills in grooming, breeding, foal delivery and training. A special guest was Carla Carter-Eldridge, horsewoman and now Ocala resident, has adopted racing thoroughbreds and retrained them to be trail horses.
The event program discusses the “Alabama Gang,” described as “a group of guys who came from Alabama as family and friends to work at Hooper Farms” and features a picture of more than a dozen men posing next to a Hooper Farms pickup truck that appears to be circa the 1960s. The caption states Gray and Cayson are among the group pictured.
Additional honorees included George Thomas “Charlie Davis” Jr., whose career as an exercise rider included riding Kentucky Derby winner Secretariat; trainers, brothers, Starling Hope and Stephen Hope; Wayne “Bo” Brown Jr., a rancher and committee president in the Florida Cattleman’s Association; professional rodeo members Jeremiah Acosta and “TK” Acosta; Courtney Wilson, former city of Ocala police officer and rancher and farmer, serving as president of the Florida Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association; Rick Wallace, expert in building farm equipment and manager of his nephew, Tayelen Seabrook, a rising national rodeo star, according to the program.
The Black History Museum of Marion County at 306 N.W. 7th Ave., Ocala, has artifacts and exhibits on the Black community’s experience here and many contributions to the area, including the fields of education, entertainment, law enforcement and more.
“The Heart of the Turf: Racing’s Black Pioneers” may be seen there through Sept. 30. In October, the exhibit moves to the FTBOA gallery at 801 SW 60th Ave.
To learn more, call the community center at (352) 671-4175. For information about the Keeneland Library, go to keeneland.com; for the Florida Thoroughbred Owners’ and Breeders’ Association, go to ftboa.com
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