April 26, 1938
The Daily Journal Capital
Microfilm Roll: MN00298
On this day in Osage country, the Osages were mourning the loss of Ada Hoots, owner of the 1924 Kentucky Derby winner Black Gold.
Ada Hoots was a prominent member of the Osage tribe. She was born in Independence, Kansas, in 1869. Her father, Augustus Captain, or “Ogees” as he was referred to by the Osages, frequently translated for the tribe. Jane Moore Captain, Hoot’s mother, was nicknamed “Aunt Jane Appleby—Cattle Queen of Oklahoma,” by the tribe and even given “an honorary headright in the Osage Nation for aiding the government in identification of members of the tribe.”
Hoots married her husband, a Tulsa builder named Alfred Worth Hoots, in 1886. After their marriage, Alfred dedicated himself to raising “fine” horses. In 1910, just years before his death, he purchased USeeIt, the future mother of Black Gold, who he trained as a race horse. USeeIt won several races and became well-known in the racing world. Because of USeeIt’s racing legacy, Ada promised her husband, as he lay on his deathbed in 1917, that she would breed his prized horse and lead her offspring to the Kentucky Derby. Black Gold, born nearly four years after her husband’s passing, went on to win first place in the 1924 Kentucky Derby.
Morgan M. Guzman
“Osage Owner of Black Gold Dies.” The Daily Journal-Capital. April 26, 1938, p. 1 & 2. Microfilm roll number MN00298. Sequoyah National Research Center, Little Rock, Arkansas.
