​One of the founding members of Jockeys and Jeans, Darrell Brown grew up in Michigan around a family of rodeo riders.  Brown became a jockey and rode his first race at Churchill Downs in the Spring of 1969. He went on to win leading rider titles at Tampa Bay Downs and Penn National, he was also second leading rider at Keeneland and Churchill Downs. He won stake races in 6 states, including the Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park and won the first running of the Kentucky Cardinal Stakes at Churchill Downs in 1974 and rode in the Kentucky Derby that same year. He rode in Santa Anita in 1970.  He retired in 1997 and now resides  in Western NC with his wife Maureen.