Dr. Amie Casey, the granddaughter of Hall of Fame jockey Jimmy “The Wink” Winkfield, will join the History Book Club’s meeting on May 26 at 7:00 PM CT for a discussion of Wink: The Incredible Life and Epic Journey of Jimmy Winkfield! Dr. Casey will talk about her grandfather, along with her life as an equine veterinarian and her experiences as a regulatory veterinarian for the Louisiana State Racing Commission.
So grab your copy of Wink from The Soul Book Nook, your local Black-owned bookstore, or other retailer and join us: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/uniting-through-history-book-club-may-meeting-tickets-153042782081.
About Dr. Amie Casey
Though Dr. Casey and her family had a love for horses born of her grandfather’s racing career, becoming a veterinarian was not something she saw for herself at a young age. At the time she decided to move to Ohio to go to veterinary school, Dr. Casey was raising three children on her own and playing violin in the Sacramento Symphony, while also working at a veterinary clinic to make ends meet.
One day while working at the veterinary clinic, a woman asked if she had ever considered becoming a vet, to which Dr. Casey replied that she was too old and had too many responsibilities at home. That stranger “planted a seed” in her mind that led Dr. Casey to the successful career she now enjoys.
Entering veterinary school as a Black woman older than her classmates was not without its challenges, however.
“Being both African American and female, or having the ‘double whammy,’ has had its challenges and hardships,” says Dr. Casey. “Certainly, not being taken seriously brought out the overachiever complex in me big time! It seemed there was always something I had to prove in order to stay in the mix and compete.”
Today, Dr. Casey is a regulatory veterinarian for the Louisiana State Racing Commission and is a member of the American Association of Equine Practitioners. In her free time, she loves to visit her three grandchildren.
To learn more about Dr. Casey, check out this interview she did about Mr. Winkfield’s two wins at the Kentucky Derby and an Associated Press story about her visit to Churchill Downs in 2002, on the 100th anniversary of her grandfather’s second consecutive Kentucky Derby victory.
To check out the book club calendar, please visit the History Book Club page.