The Prince of Jockeys

by Pellom McDaniels III

At the end of the 1884 season, Isaac had ridden in 132 races, winning 51. Walter Vosburgh, the dean of horse racing and sports journalism, elevated Murphy to a position rarely held by black jockeys of the day. In the pages of Spirit of the Times, Vosburgh wrote dotingly about Isaac, calling him the quintessential jockey and gentleman, “an elegant specimen of manhood” to be recognized and applauded for his example in the saddle and out.98 The twenty-three-year-old, whose life must have felt somewhat unreal and unfamiliar, continued to blossom. He had become the toast of horse owners, fans of the turf, and an adoring “colored” public from one coast of the country to the other. He commanded a salary that rivaled that of businessmen, lawyers, politicians, and educators, yet he remained modest and humble. He was married to a beautiful woman who seemed to make the young man happy. Isaac certainly could not have imagined the changes the future had to offer.

  The Life of a Jockey: His Habits and Concerns

  While Isaac spent the winter months in Lexington recovering from the long but successful 1884 season, he celebrated another birthday and his second year of marriage to Lucy. How the couple observed Isaac's twenty-fourth birthday and how they celebrated their anniversary likely followed the customs and traditions of the day. Lucy may have thrown a small dinner party to celebrate Isaac's birthday, inviting a few select guests, who would have presented him with gifts. Lucy may have given her husband a book from a favorite author, a painting of one of his favorite horses to hang in his library, or perhaps the handmade monogrammed sash Isaac wore in the one of the few photographs we have of him in his early twenties. For their anniversary, the Murphys might have traveled to Louisville, Chicago, or even Nashville to take in the local sights or attend lectures at the black churches, community-sponsored organizations, or the various Negro colleges. In Chicago, Cleveland, and Nashville, the couple could have gone to the theater, dined out at local restaurants, and visited with their growing number of friends. In their travels, issues related to the color line would have been unavoidable. Their mode of transportation, their reception in the cities they visited, and their ability to gain access to places of interest were no doubt impacted by local decisions to segregate blacks from whites in most public facilities. In line with the customs of the day, the Murphys would have chosen their battles carefully, negotiating their surroundings in such a way as to maintain not only their humanity but also their vision of the future they hoped to experience together.

  Isaac's focus was on securing future contracts with owners who were willing to pay his asking price. This would enable him to afford the lifestyle he and his wife had become accustomed to, which included Lucy accompanying Isaac to races across the country. Although the 1880s brought a number of new restrictions on African Americans’ everyday lives, resulting from the triumph of white supremacy and both legal and extralegal mechanisms to disenfranchise black people wholesale, Isaac was still somewhat protected from discrimination and harassment. The realm of horse racing was still controlled by the elite, who wanted to maintain the traditions and rituals that supported their view of the world and their place in it. However, with the nation's expansion west, a growing number of wealthy white men—some of them immigrants or the children of immigrants, and others who were antiblack and anti-Chinese—became involved in horse breeding and racing as a formal declaration of their wealth and membership in the American oligarchy. It was at this moment in time that Murphy was both fortunate and ill-fated. Between 1885 and 1890, the world in which he lived and worked would change dramatically.

  In early February 1885, while the European powers met to carve up Africa and continue to exploit the continent of its resources, the U.S. government advanced legislation aimed at further unraveling the gains made by African Americans after the Civil War and Reconstruction.99 These gains were reflected in the number of black educators, scholars, businessmen and -women, politicians, lawyers, and inventors; black schools, churches, fraternal organizations, and societies; and an overall sense of enlightenment and achievement. Black newspapers such as the New York Freeman, the Western Appeal, and the Cleveland Gazette reported the achievements of blacks, providing a public accounting of racial progress. Yet for whites bent on resisting black success as an indicator of black humanity and therefore black citizenship, the stories of achievement were worthless, on the one hand, and dangerous, on the other.

  Like most blacks in Kentucky, the Murphys socialized with friends and acquaintances on a regular basis but likely anticipated and experienced difficulty outside their own community, especially where whites asserted their authority. Those blacks who attempted to challenge the segregation and discrimination practiced in Kentucky's theaters, public parks, horse tracks, and public transportation were often brutalized or worse. Isaac and Lucy were well aware of the violence taking place in the Bluegrass—it was all around. They may have chosen to stay in Lexington during the off-season to avoid potential confrontations with white ruffians and white men bent on exercising their rights over blacks, especially black women. However, it is just as likely that they chose to stay home to rest and prepare for the upcoming season, since travel was a requirement of Isaac's occupation.

  By the spring of 1885, Isaac had trained hard and reduced his winter weight in preparation to ride at 115 pounds. In May he donned the green and white colors of Ed Corrigan's stable to ride at the Kentucky Association meeting on Fifth and Race Streets. For Murphy, it was privilege to ride in front of a hometown crowd. His familiarity with Lexington's white and black communities, the city's combination of old Kentucky and new Kentucky charm, and the liminal sense of progress in the midst of draconian challenges are probably some of the reasons why he chose to make his home there rather than in Frankfort or Louisville. Isaac grounded himself in the familiar surroundings of the city, where he remained close to his roots in Clark County, his youth in Lexington, and his mother's grave.

  At the Kentucky Association meeting, which opened on May 6, Murphy, in characteristic form, won the first two races for Corrigan's stable: a $300 purse race on Pearl Jennings, winning by half a length, and the Distillers’ Stakes for three-year-olds on Modesty, winning by three-quarters of a length and earning the prize of $1,250. In addition to the retainer paid by Corrigan, Murphy earned $100 for two victories. The next day, riding for Morris and Patton, Murphy won the $1,425 Phoenix Hotel Stakes for three-year-olds on the bay colt Biersan. Isaac would go on to win two additional stakes races, while bringing his weight down to 110 pounds in the process. Murphy's success at his home course could have been seen as a good omen for the 1885 season. Yet nothing was guaranteed in horse racing.

  During the races at Lexington and Louisville, Murphy likely enjoyed the company of other black and even white jockeys—men who had come up on the circuit together and maintained a degree of respect for one another. This situation was becoming uncommon in the East and in the Deep South, where highly successful black jockeys were beginning to disappear. Murphy's affable nature may have attracted people to him like moths to a flame, and from the few images available, he seems to have held court with his fellow jockeys on several occasions. His friend John Stoval was the beneficiary of Murphy's professional advice, even though Stoval was the competition, and his losses could have been to Murphy's benefit. But Isaac was a true sportsman who found dignity in honest labor and hard work. To manipulate the outcome of a race to make money from gambling was not work; it negated the satisfaction of accomplishing something from one's own individual efforts.

  At the Louisville races, in front of an estimated 30,000 spectators at the eleventh running of the Kentucky Derby, Isaac and Biersan finished second behind J. T. Williams's Joe Cotton. Isaac also rode in seventeen other races over the span of ten days, winning nine times and finishing second five times.100 From Louisville, he moved on to the Latonia track, where he won the Hindoo Stakes on Biersan; in fact, he was so highly favored to win that Biersan was left out of the betting pools. Murphy and Biersan immediately took command of the race and won by six lengths to claim th
e $4,230 prize.101 He would also win two races for Corrigan's stable on Lizzie Dwyer and Swiney and finish in the money in several other races for other owners. After leaving Covington, he traveled with Corrigan to St. Louis and then Kansas City, winning or placing in almost every race he entered. Finally, Isaac moved on to Chicago, where eccentric California millionaire E. J. Baldwin would up the ante.

  On June 27, the first day of the races at Chicago's Washington Park, Baldwin leased Murphy's services, paying Corrigan $1,500 and Murphy $1,000 to ride his bay colt Volante in the American Derby. With more than sixty hopeful participants and only eight places available for the start, the American Derby was one of the richest races on record, amounting to a $10,000 stakes race. The previous year, Murphy had won the American Derby on Corrigan's Modesty; this year, the owner had planned to have Murphy ride Irish Pat, but rather than run the race and perhaps win nothing, Corrigan took the $1,500—a sure thing. Besides, the $1,500 would offset some of the money he already owed to Murphy. Isaac was no doubt pleased to have the opportunity to make an extra $1,000.

  Prior to the beginning of the race, rain fell on the 10,000 spectators and created a muddy surface on the track, with several ponds as deep as two inches forming.102 But the enthusiastic crowd had come to see the American Derby, rain or shine. The fact that Murphy was riding in the mile-and-a-half race only added to the heart-pounding excitement. In a letter to the editor of the New Hampshire Sentinel, a writer identified as “Flos” described the action:

  On the start “Alf Estel” took the lead and held it to the quarter pole, where she was passed by “Favor.” At the half “Favor” led by a length, and at the three quarter pole she still held her lead, closely followed by “Troubadour,” “Irish Pat” and “Volante.” “Alf Estel” had dropped back and was virtually out of the race. They finished the mile in the same relative positions. At the mile and a quarter “Favor” still led, and her backers were jubilant. The eight horses swept round the curve on to the “home stretch” in a bunch with “Favor” in front and “Troubadour” and “Volante” close behind, and both gaining slightly. The excitement was intense. The thousands in the grand stand rose to their feet as one person, and there was perfect pandemonium. “Favor wins!” “Favor wins!” “Troubadour'll get there!” “Volante's gaining!” and numerous other cries in the air. As the horses came up to the grand stand “Favor” and “Volante” were neck and neck, both straining every nerve, but “Volante” was the fleeter and passed under the wire a length ahead.

  The noted jockey, Murphy, rode “Volante,” and he received $500 from Baldwin, the owner of the horse, and $500 from “Plunger” Walton, a big winner on the race, for winning it. His handling of the horse was beautiful. It was a bad day for the favorites all through, only one winning.103

  Flos's account is interesting for its mention of the widely known gambler Plunger Walton and his $500 payoff to Murphy. Under normal circumstances, Murphy generally avoided men of questionable character.

  In the end, the victory benefited not only Baldwin but also Murphy, who could use this performance as an advertisement of his ability to handle a Thoroughbred, which could translate into additional contracts for larger sums of money. In fact, on July 11 Baldwin announced that he had offered Murphy a two-year contract worth $5,000 per season.104 With an annual salary of $5,000, Murphy would be better paid than most politicians, and he knew it.

  In a Chicago Tribune interview conducted after he signed with Baldwin, Murphy answered a few questions about his life and career as a jockey. The reporter began his article with a description of Lucy Murphy:

  In a street car en route to the Washington Park races the other day sat a beautiful octoroon girl perhaps 20 years of age, and with her were two other women of a darker hue, who were evidently her companions. It was apparent from their conversation that they were well acquainted with the different horses that were to contest the day's races and also with some of the jockeys who were to ride them. The octoroon girl was the wife of Isaac Murphy, the young mulatto who stands to-day at the head of all American jockeys, and whose services as a rider are in constant demand at race meetings.

  Arrived at the race track the women took seats in the grand stand, and it was not long before a bright faced, active young man galloped down the homestretch on the back of one of Ed Corrigan's thoroughbreds giving the woman a smile as he passed by, the salutation being returned by the pretty octoroon.

  The reporter met with Murphy before the first race of the day in the paddock area, where he asked a series of questions related to the life of a jockey, Isaac's habits and concerns, and his annual earnings from horse racing. Murphy's answers were clear and concise, divulging sufficient details so as not to oversimplify a jockey's job. One exchange revealed what Murphy thought about himself and his ability to earn such an impressive salary:

  “You ride for yourself, don't you—that is, you are not bound to any one man?” “Yes, I am my own master so far as that is concerned, except that Mr. Corrigan has the first call on my services. That means that whenever he has a horse in a race I am obliged to ride that animal if he wants me to, and it is only when he has nothing starting that I could ride that it is possible for me to accept mounts from other people. Of course one stable can furnish starters for but a small minority of the races run all over the country, and so I get all the outside riding I want to do.”105

  Murphy's desire to depict himself as a man in control of his own destiny may have been unusual for a black man, let alone a jockey. But Murphy saw himself as a businessman and the captain of his own ship. This persona attracted admirers, such as a “Chicago hardware and leather merchant…[who] had an expensive saddle and bridle manufactured, which were…presented formally, in the judges stand, to the ‘colored Archer.’”106

  The Chicago Tribune interview functioned as an open yet unintended challenge to the sordid ideas circulating about African American masculinity and manhood. Black men's character was coming under more frequent attack in American society, especially through publications that used demeaning dialect and images to maintain notions of white superiority. The Tribune writer's effort to present Murphy as a well-spoken professional was significant, considering the degree to which some newspapers and advertisers went out of their way to reinforce popular racial stereotypes.

  At the end of the Washington Park meeting on July 11, Isaac and Lucy headed east on the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, more than likely traveling in a private Pullman car. They wanted to get settled in Saratoga Springs before July 21, when Isaac was scheduled to ride Corrigan's Pearl Jennings in a sweepstakes for all ages and Irish Pat in the Travers Stakes. On July 23, the same day Isaac won the Excelsior Sweepstakes for all ages on Freeland, former president and Union general Ulysses S. Grant died of throat cancer in Mount McGregor, New York. The editor of the Live Stock Record wrote glowingly about Grant: “He was a great man and a great general, and the country he served so well, knew him to admire his military genius. If the heartfelt regrets of the living can ever penetrate in to the chill hall of death, America's famous son General Grant should sleep well, conscious that his fellow-countrymen appreciate his worth and would have given much could they have prolonged his life.”107 Grant's death signaled the passing of an American hero from one of the nation's most challenging times. It also marked the end of the era when reform-minded men worked to help African Americans rise above their former station and take their place in the American body politic.

  At the Saratoga races, Murphy had more than a dozen mounts from July 21 to August 1, finishing in the money in a majority of them. The rivalries that developed between owners and between individual jockeys created additional excitement on the track. At Monmouth Park, Isaac rode Corrigan's white-faced Freeland against the Dwyer brothers' Miss Woodford (later, the first American Thoroughbred to win more than $100,000) in the Champion Stakes on August 10 and the Special Sweepstakes on August 18. Freeland won both races handily. In fact, he won the latter race so decisively that Phil D
wyer accused his jockey, Jimmy McLaughlin, of pulling Miss Woodford and challenged Corrigan to a match race for $2,500 a side. Historian Betty Borries suggests that the Dwyer brothers were criticized “for running their horses [so] often” and for wagering large sums of money on the outcome, thus forcing others to do the same.108 Case in point: Corrigan agreed to put Freeland to the test with only two days' rest, a decision Murphy disagreed with. The New York Herald published an article with the headline “Crack Racers to Try Again: Freeland and Miss Woodford to Do Battle Once More at Monmouth,” which provided details about the previous race between the two horses, the conditions of the match race, and the exciting outcome guaranteed to those spectators fortunate enough to attend.109 In another article appearing on the same day in the New York Times, successful breeder and gentleman of the turf James T. Williams related how the celebrated Isaac Murphy had gotten his start under Williams's care and direction; how America Murphy had brought her son to him when she was dying of tuberculosis; and how the talented jockey was not only the best in America, he was “incorruptible.”110 Murphy had come a long way: he was at the center of the racing industry within ten years of learning how to ride races.

  On August 20 at Long Branch, the day was clear and fair for the race that represented the burgeoning rivalry between eastern and western racing factions. In addition to having only two days to recover from Freeland's previous victory over Miss Woodford, Isaac was sick after reducing from “115 to 110 pounds in order to ride Bluewing in the select stakes,” and he lay prostrate in the paddock area while Freeland's trainer, J. W. Rodgers, made all the preparations.111 As McLaughlin and Murphy, both astride their horses, made their way to the starting point, the estimated 12,000 spectators applauded the competitors. Poised for the start, they waited for the flag to drop and then “shot away together” at a heated pace for the mile-and-a-half race. McLaughlin went to the front on Miss Woodford; Murphy trailed within two lengths for the first half of the match but was gaining ground with every stride. At the three-quarter pole, Murphy began to close in on McLaughlin while keeping a steady pull on Freeland, who wanted to open up his stride. As they entered the stretch, Murphy gave Freeland his head and let him run. McLaughlin worked his whip and spurs, which kept Miss Woodford's attention as she continued to reach out toward the finish line. Like a magnet, Freeland kept coming until he was at the “mare's shoulder,” but it was too late.112 Murphy and Freeland lost by a head.