Kenner was a businessman that owned and raced horses with a track located on the plantation grounds.
Abe rode for Kenner until he became a freeman in 1864, and then for Robert A. Alexander and was nationally known for fifteen years.
[3] By 1865, Abe was rated the second best known athlete behind white jockey Gilbert Watson Patrick, known as Gilpatrick, and won against him in a match race before a crowd of 25,000 in New York City.
[4] Abe had a career twenty-five wins, including the two 1866 wins while under the employ of Robert A. Alexander, the Travers Stakes riding Merrill with former slave trainer Ansel Williamson, and the first Jerome Stakes riding Watson with trainer Jacob Pincus.
In 2024 Hawkins was selected for induction into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame by its Historic Review Committee.