The 1968 Kentucky Derby
In May 1968, jockey Donivan Crouch rode Dancer’s Image to victory in the Kentucky Derby and won a $5,000 prize. However, three days later, phenylbutazone was discovered in the horse’s system, prompting him and his mount to forfeit their title. Fuller was astounded by the findings and the fact that he had filed a lawsuit.
The death of Fuller’s horse shocked the Derby community, which raised a lot of discussion and conspiracy theories. The most popular one states that opponents of civil rights deliberately ruined Fuller’s horse as a protest against his support for Martin Luther King. There is, however, no evidence to back up this claim.