The Prince of Jockeys

by Pellom McDaniels III

  In Spirit of the Times, Murphy's failed ride on Emperor of Norfolk was openly discussed:

  The very signal defeat of Emperor of Norfolk at the last week at Monmouth, has not ceased to be the subject of no end of talk and various reasons have been assigned. An undue importance has been attached to Isaac Murphy having drank champagne, but this is hardly fair, as the jockey was not under its influence. The colt seemed beaten after he had gone half a mile. But that does not satisfy many who lost money on him, and they seem never done talking about it. Mr. McCullough, who is connected with Green Morris’ stable and is a man of very excellent judgment, said before the race that he thought Sir Dixon would win. “But what about Emperor of Norfolk?” he was asked. “I don't think he's himself,” he replied.148

  Clearly, there was more to the story than previously discussed. But the idea that Emperor of Norfolk had been drugged before the race was not elaborated on in the media.

  At the Coney Island Jockey Club meeting at Sheepshead Bay, Murphy redeemed himself by winning on Emperor of Norfolk in the Autumn Stakes on September 3 and in the Turf Handicap on Baldwin's Mollie McCarthy's Last three days later, beating Ed Garrison on Lancaster. However, the seed of doubt had been planted in the minds of spectators: Had the honest and reliable ambassador of the sport of kings been corrupted by his success? Had he lost the self-control required to maintain focus on his work in the saddle? Murphy, like Tony Hamilton and Moses Fleetwood Walker, was being put in his place by members of the press who recognized that they had the power to change the fortunes of successful black athletes.

  By the end of the season, Isaac was reassured of Baldwin's confidence in him when the owner extended his contract and agreed to pay him $12,500. Baldwin also asked Murphy to ride at 112 pounds, owing to the death of Fred West, Baldwin's other prized employee, who had died “in the mad rush of two year-olds at Saratoga.”149 Unfortunately, at some point, Isaac would begin to suffer from the demands placed on his mind and body and the pressures imposed on him from all directions.

  Between seasons, the Murphys took refuge at their new home on East Third Street. Once they had some time to recover from their travels, friends such as Henry Scroggins, Abe and Clara Perry, Dudley Allen and his wife Maggie, Jordan and Belle Jackson, and Reverend Bell would have visited. Their conversations would have been pleasant, including an exchange of information—the Murphys telling their guests about events taking place outside of the Bluegrass, and the Lexingtonians informing Isaac and Lucy about changes in the city, especially with regard to race relations.

  It is possible that the Murphys read one or two of the black weeklies and dailies in circulation and, on occasion, used the articles as a basis for conversations related to the position of the Negro in American society and how to respond to attacks on their humanity and citizenship. Reading columns by Thomas Fortune, Iona (Ida B. Wells), and Frederick Douglass; books by historians George Washington Williams, William Still, and the Reverend William J. Simmons; poems by Phillis Wheatley; and the novels of William Wells Brown would have expanded not only their knowledge of things social, political, and economic but also their understanding of the need for education and examples of achievement and success. Reading columns in the Cleveland Gazette, New York Age, and Indianapolis Freeman would have exposed them to the radical ideas being formulated and implemented around the country, especially in the urban areas of the North, where African Americans wielded more influence than in the post-Reconstruction South. Discussions of power, privilege, and purpose would have been filtered through one-on-one conversations and discussions in community settings such as churches, fraternal organizations, or social gatherings where leaders could inform their neighbors about events taking place in cities like Chicago, Cincinnati, and Indianapolis. Murphy's thoughts about the politics of the day are not known.

  In February 1888 Benjamin Bruce, editor of the Live Stock Record, published an article in response to one circulating about Murphy that tried to diminish his importance to horse racing, depicting him as just another black jockey:

  From an article of over a column in length which has been going the rounds of the papers, I clip the following:

  “Another jockey who is considered a coming man, and who kept himself in the public gaze during the last season was Isaac Murphy, who, in spite of his name, is neither Irish not Hebrew, but a darky. He has made a good deal of income, something under $5000, and is a successful rider.”

  The above makes such [a] display of the writer's ignorance of malice, and contains so much untruth that it deserves some notice. Most of the article from which it is clipped is used for the laudation of McLaughlin and Garrison, both of which are too worthy of it to require that another should be depreciated that they might shine.

  It is no secret that [in] 1887 Isaac Murphy received a retainer of $10,000 for his services from April 1st to November 1st, with additional pay for his mounts, and the privilege of riding for whom he pleased when not riding for his employer. It is true also that had he chosen to change employers he could have received even a larger sum.

  Now the records for the last six years will show by the only true list, the proportion of winning mounts, to the whole number, that Murphy stands at the head of American jockeys.150

  By 1888, Murphy had won more than 38 percent of his races, while McLaughlin's and Garrison's numbers hovered around 35 and 31 percent, respectively. Yet all three were premier jockeys and were in high demand from coast to coast. Importantly, Murphy had significantly fewer mounts, by choice. Because of his success in stakes races, he was able to dictate the terms of his contracts and ride less than most other jockeys. Stable owners chose Murphy to ride their prized horses quite simply because he was the best pilot of horseflesh available. Bruce concluded his article:

  As “the record speaks” it will show that Murphy's career as a jockey from the time he had his first mount to the end of last season is unrivaled in America.

  This is written, it is needless almost to say, without Murphy's knowledge but in a simple justice to one who has ever been unassuming generous to other jockeys, faithful to his employers and the public, which has even trusted him; and who has never by any display of rivalry “blown his own horn.”151

  Bruce's acknowledgment of Murphy's modesty and humility and his unimpeachable success as a jockey was a celebration of the man who lived his life with a purpose.

  Unfortunately, deteriorating race relations in American society, evidenced by episodes of brutality in the form of lynching and rape and use of the legal system against the innocent, overlapped and intersected with the increasing popularity of horse racing. Those in control of the sport, especially in the East, attempted to exclude blacks from the saddle so that white jockeys might shine. The depreciation of Murphy's abilities not only took the spotlight off the most successful jockey of his generation but also tried to erase the long history of blacks’ contributions to the development of horse racing in America. For Murphy, this was only the start of what would be a coordinated effort to assail his character and damage his reputation as a dependable and trustworthy jockey.

  Murphy no doubt appreciated Bruce's public expression of confidence and support. However, the hostility directed toward him and other black jockeys was part of a coordinated assault against black labor throughout the country. Indeed, the collusion between capital and labor to exclude blacks was linked to American social Darwinism and the mythology of white supremacy. In response to the growth of black social, economic, and political power, European immigrants, ethnic minorities, and poor and middle-class whites gravitated toward the only thing that bound them together: fear of black competition. This, as well as a fear of black domination, was at the core of the growing violence against blacks in the 1880s and throughout the 1890s. This assault on African Americans in general and black men in particular was how white men responded when black masculinity threatened their self-conscious ideas about manhood.

  Seemingly unaffected by these tensions in society and in the ho
rse-racing world, Isaac continued to plan his future as an owner-trainer. According to the Washington Critic, in the spring of 1888 Murphy purchased a small farm near Lexington for $5,000, where he built a stable to house his string of two-year-olds. The article speculated that if all went according to plan, the successful jockey would race his string “this year if they prove to be good for anything.”152 As noted earlier, Murphy hired Charles Anderson, his Megowan Street tenant, to train and care for his four promising colts: Fabulous, Barrister, Nugent, and Champagne Charley. As an aspiring lord of the turf, Isaac had learned a lot working with and for owners such as James T. Williams, J. W. Hunt-Reynolds, Ed Corrigan, L. P. Tarleton, and E. J. Baldwin, and he borrowed freely from their collective knowledge of the industry. His first venture was buying and selling quality horses for a profit, beginning with Barrister, who was sold for $4,000 to Green B. Morris, a successful horse trainer from Kentucky.

  Sometime in March, Murphy claimed his stable's racing colors: “black jacket, red cuffs and white belt, red cap with green tassel.”153 Why he chose these particular colors is not known, but it is interesting that a similar color scheme of red, black, and green would be central to the 1960s Black Power movement in the United States. Essentially, Murphy's assertion of his power as a jockey, owner, and trainer in the world of horse racing—a realm traditionally dominated by white men—signified the development of black power in horse racing and, by extension, American society. As an empowered black man seeking to assert his identity and economic power, Isaac might have intended his color choices to represent black success and achievement.

  Before leaving Kentucky and heading west, Murphy would have instructed his trainer, Anderson, how to proceed until he called for his string to travel west to the races in Kansas City and Chicago. Murphy reached Santa Anita by April 1 and began working with Baldwin's new trainer, R. W. Thomas. For Murphy, going to California was like going to training camp; his work there would help him focus, get fit (and perhaps lose weight), and prepare for the long, grueling season ahead. Isaac may have made the trip alone this time, leaving Lucy home to supervise their assets and manage their properties. It is also possible that Lucy's sister, Susan Osborne, had moved into their Lexington home, in which case Lucy could have gone west with her husband, entrusting Susan to handle their affairs in their absence.

  The success of the Santa Anita stables in the 1888 season rode squarely on Isaac's shoulders. How he responded to this pressure remained to be seen. The season began at the annual Nashville Jockey Club meeting, which opened on April 30.154 Between Nashville and Louisville, Isaac experienced only marginal success, finishing second or third in most of his races on Volante and Emperor of Norfolk. However, after a majority of Baldwin's horses shifted to New York to run in the big-money Brooklyn, American, and Coney Island Jockey Club races, Murphy began to heat up. He won five out of five races on Emperor of Norfolk and placed first on Volante in one race and second in three others. One race in particular, the Brooklyn Cup on May 26, is worth noting.

  In a field that included Jimmy McLaughlin on the Dwyer brothers’ Hanover and William Howard on A. J. Cassatt's The Bard, Murphy on Volante was considered a contender if the horse could keep up with the pace expected to be set by Howard. A week earlier, under cold and rainy conditions and on a slow, muddy track, the same three horses had met in the Brooklyn Jockey Club Handicap, worth $8,460, in front of 10,000 fans huddled in the grandstand. The Bard won, with Hanover finishing a close second; Volante struggled to finish in fifth position. By the time the horses met again on the twenty-sixth for the mile-and-a-half race, the rematch between Howard and McLaughlin and their respective horses was the primary focus of the 20,000 spectators. At the start of the race, McLaughlin took the lead on Hanover, with Murphy in second position on Volante and jockey Martin on Fenelon in third. The Bard was dead last when the flag fell, some “two or three lengths behind the others.”155 Howard soon caught up to the pack, however, and after the three-quarter pole, The Bard lapped and then passed the field, separated by two lengths after a furlong. McLaughlin started to run after Howard, who was only two lengths away at the end of a mile, but Hanover was done; there was no way he could catch The Bard. Realizing he had no chance to win, McLaughlin eased up on Hanover, but he failed to see that Murphy had been waiting to make his move. Without hesitation, Murphy urged Volante to continue the contest and passed a surprised McLaughlin, who tried to ignite Hanover to finish, without luck. Crossing the line to take the $500 prize for second place, Murphy set in motion a series of events that can best be described as both opportunistic and repugnant.

  Leaving New York, Murphy arrived in Chicago with Baldwin's stable for the Washington Park meeting, set to begin June 23. He was fully expected to win on the peaking Emperor of Norfolk, and most bookmakers refused to take odds on the speedy colt. Most gamblers knew they would lose money betting against the jockey who had won three of the previous four American Derbies. Another reason not to open the pools to the American Derby was the number of horses available to bet on in other races. The summer races had become so popular among owners that there were more than 2,400 horses in the city for the scheduled events, and stables were in short supply. To accommodate all the animals, park authorities secured “everything that was shaped like a barn within a mile” of the track.156 This predicament overjoyed the locals, who happily leased their stable space to the out-of-town turfmen.

  If Isaac and Lucy were not staying with friends in the city, they could have found accommodations at the Sheridan or the Grand Pacific Hotel, both of which were friendly toward African Americans. Making his way to the track sometime before noon, Isaac would have been greeted by fans hoping to get a look at the horses and their jockeys preparing to compete for the day's cash prizes. On this first day of the summer meeting, a light rain fell; it was barely noticed by those situated in the grandstand and the clubhouse, but spectators in the infield and around the betting ring got a little wet. In the first event of the day, a purse race for $450, Murphy finished second on Volante, a full length behind F. B. Harper's Valuable, ridden by the outstanding Isaac Lewis.

  The second race of the day, the American Derby, was valued at $16,000. Baldwin's Emperor of Norfolk was the hands-down favorite, based on Murphy's previous victories on the speedy colt, whose current six-race winning streak excited spectators. To make it a match, however, his stablemate Los Angeles, ridden by Armstrong, and Haggin's Falcon, ridden by Anthony Hamilton, were entered as well. The Chicago Horseman conceded that the favorite was obvious:

  The bell now rang for the great event of the day, and though all experienced turfman knew that by every law of public form the Emperor of Norfolk must win, a ripple of excitement thrilled through the vast crowd. The field has dwindled down to seven, and so strong was the public faith in the Santa Anita candidates that 2 and 1 to 1 was placed on the pair, Los Angeles and the Emperor of Norfolk. Los Angeles is an exceedingly handsome and blood-like filly, and the Emperor of Norfolk looks every inch the king he really is.157

  Maintaining his reputation for not pushing or punishing his mounts unnecessarily, Murphy rode Emperor of Norfolk circumspectly until they were within a dash of the finish, when he gave the horse its head. Emperor of Norfolk won by a length, despite Hamilton's steady punishment of Falcon to the wire. Hardly ever credited in white newspapers with winning based on his intelligence and his understanding of his horse's capabilities, Murphy was even accused of having a penchant for grandstanding. But the evidence indicates that he rode to win—that was all.

  After his successful Washington Park showing, where he won a total of four races on Emperor of Norfolk and Volante worth more than $20,000, Isaac and Lucy returned to New York, where he continued to ride for Baldwin at Monmouth Park and Saratoga Springs. In August the Dwyer brothers approached Murphy about engaging his services, as they had become dissatisfied with Jimmy McLaughlin, their primary jockey for the past twelve years. On the surface, the break between the Dwyers and McLaughlin had been ami
cable and cordial. However, according to the Live Stock Record, the Dwyers’ decision was the result of McLaughlin's diminishing riding form and his lack of commitment to compete to win every race. “The ill feeling which has existed for some time between the Dwyers and their jockey Jas. McLaughlin has at length ended in a separation between them after twelve years.” Furthermore, the “ill feeling began early in the season, and has grown ever since, as the Dwyers think they have lost races which they should have won.”158 One of those races, no doubt, was the one in which McLaughlin virtually gave second place to Murphy. At the time the article was published, a successor had not been picked. However, the following day it was announced that Murphy had agreed to ride for the Dwyers for the rest of the season and would consider signing a contract for 1889.159 We do not know how McLaughlin felt about being replaced by Murphy, but we can imagine that some whites saw it as another white boy losing a valuable job to an undeserving “nigger.”

  Murphy's comportment as a professional had earned him the respect and admiration of some of his fellow jockeys, patrons of the turf, and owners. Described as a jockey who “sits his horse with ease” and maintains “little flourish to his finish,” Isaac was still in demand by owners who wanted a jockey who would fight to win every race.160 Although he achieved only 37 victories out of 117 starts during the 1888 season—which was extremely low, compared with Pike Barnes's 626 mounts and 206 wins—Murphy could be depended on to win the high-stakes races. At the end of the season, Murphy debated whether to ride in 1889. It seems that his limited success as an owner-trainer had made him eager to complete the transition to a life outside the rails, where his own reliable jockeys would ride his horses to victory wearing the colors of his stable.