On May 22, the fifth and final day of the Louisville meeting, it was Isaac's turn to ride. His mount was Robert Scott's Lady Greenfield,30 and the race was the Consolation Purse for horses that had already been beaten.31 There is no doubt that Isaac was eager to demonstrate what he had learned at Chittlin Switch as an exercise boy and at Crab Orchard as a newly minted jockey. After a few words of encouragement from the other jockeys, Isaac mounted his horse and was led to the track. All of a sudden, Isaac's big moment was at hand. With everyone watching, it was time for him to show exactly what he knew and achieve the primary objective for any new jockey: finish the race alive. Jordan's instructions to Isaac were probably quite simple: get the six-year-old mare off the line at the tap of the drum and run her to the finish line. But whatever they were, it didn't matter in the end. Isaac was the last off the line. In no time, Lady Greenfield was distanced by the field and finally cantered past the judges' box to the applause of the exhausted crowd, ending the first Louisville Jockey Club meeting.
Isaac might not have appreciated this recognition from the crowd; it would have been embarrassing and humiliating to perform so poorly. But he would have many other opportunities to ride past the judges' stand to the cheers of spectators. On those occasions, he would understand that their applause was an expression of appreciation for his skill in the saddle. He would use this first race as a reminder to always compete, regardless of the horse he had under him. This was one of many lessons he would learn from his first ride in Louisville.
What did Eli Jordan think of Isaac's initial performance at Louisville? Did he laugh to himself when the mare failed to get off the line, or did he look for signs of a great jockey being born? We can only speculate, but it seems likely that he used the experience as a teaching tool for his young, eager jockey. Jordan himself may have been a jockey at one point, as were most black trainers of his generation. Weight, age, and fading ability forced many out of the saddle and into the role of trainer, molding both horses and boys into winners. Jordan would have understood if Isaac froze when the drum was tapped. He knew that the jostling and slashing from other jockeys could intimidate a young boy trying to become a man in a do-or-die occupation. Master trainer that he was, Jordan understood the desire to be successful, and he knew how to get what he wanted out of a horse and a young jockey, especially one who trusted his every word and command. Whatever the exchange between trainer and jockey was after the race ended and Isaac weighed out, it likely included a constructive critique that helped Isaac understand what he had done right and where he had failed.
Given Isaac's future success, it is obvious that he took Jordan's criticism to heart. Yet he was still just a boy, and he may have taken his failure hard, even crying once he was out of the public eye, where his peers could not see him and question his toughness. Or he may have demonstrated the same stoically cool demeanor that would characterize his later victories, seemingly achieved without much effort. Or perhaps this loss gave him the incentive to work even harder to become the most successful jockey of his generation—maybe of all time.
In any case, we can assume that Jordan began a regimen to condition Isaac to anticipate when to get off the line, having him practice hundreds of times. In other words, Jordan drilled Isaac in the proper techniques to stay in control of the race before it became a race. He also would have taught him to know the strengths and weaknesses of the horse he was riding, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the other horses in the field. Isaac needed to develop an awareness of everything going on around him at all times, anticipating the unexpected and trusting his instincts at every turn. The lessons would be ongoing. But Isaac was bright and willing, and his commitment was obvious to all who saw the little yellow boy with long arms, some ability, and a good seat. Despite the loss at Louisville, the fourteen-year-old had passed the first test for a professional jockey: he came back for more.
Winning It All
Looking back on the career of Isaac Murphy, Philip St. Laurent wrote glowingly about the “cool and assured” way he guided his horses, sometimes with a simple “whisper” to coax his steed across the finish line to win by a nose. In his match races on Salvator, against Ed Garrison riding Tenny, Isaac became famous for two things: “winning and handling his mounts gently.” Over the years, Isaac had proved himself head and shoulders above the competition. According to St. Laurent, “That's the way Murphy proved things. He won races.”32 What exactly he had to prove is not mentioned, but by the 1890s, there were several issues affecting black Americans that Isaac could not avoid, even on the racetrack.
The most prevalent was the so-called Negro question, whereby whites wondered what to do with the nation's more than 7 million blacks, who were considered alien in the country of their birth. Whites wanted nothing more than to rid themselves of “the stain” of slavery, on the one hand, and the competition by blacks, on the other.33 Solutions to the supposed problem were posed by historians such as Philip Bruce, who demonized African Americans as naturally savage and incapable of achieving a sense of civility after emancipation:
The return of the race to the original physical type, involves its intellectual reversion also. The alteration of its mental character will be disclosed in the development of simpler and more distinct intellectual traits; with the elimination of mulattoes, the points of mental difference between the blacks and the white will grow more apparent. So far, the only persons of unusual capacity whom the former race has produced have been men who were sprung, either directly or remotely, from white ancestry….
The reversion to the original type is apt to make the Negro a more dangerous political factor, because it will increase his inability to grasp enlightened ideas about public policy.34
Bruce promoted the concept of reversion, suggesting that, because of their nature, blacks were destined to become extinct socially, politically, and culturally. His theory also claimed that because mulattoes had “white” blood, the elimination of mixed unions between blacks and whites represented a break in the civilizing of the darker race. In other words, blacks were recognized as a threat to a civilization in which whites once again dominated as masters of their own destiny.35
By 1890, black intellectuals had recognized and articulated why white men were so adamantly opposed to the progress of the black race: fear of economic competition was a cloaked reference to fear of black masculinity. If a black man who had once been at the bottom of society proved himself capable of achieving and sustaining success, what could be said about a white man who had never been a slave yet has achieved nothing? Black men's successful competition with whites for jobs, security, and power came to define white masculinity as less potent and therefore less manly. This new reality framed numerous contests between white and black men in the latter part of the nineteenth century.
For Isaac Murphy, his contests against white rivals like Ed Garrison and Jimmy McLaughlin became more significant to racing fans. They still watched to see which horse won the race, but some became more concerned with which race (black or white) won the competition. Horse racing had been good to Isaac, and he had been good for horse racing. What he thought about the Negro question, how it influenced his riding, or whether he became more determined to win because of the growing tensions between the races is not clear. What we do know is that in the spring of 1876, Isaac was a year older and wiser. The most important issues on his mind were the quality of his seat and his understanding of the art of pace. The future was still undefined, and so was his place in it.
By the spring 1876 meeting of the Louisville Jockey Club, Isaac had gained additional experience with the horses owned and managed by the Williams and Owings stable. He had also gained ten pounds. Although Isaac's weight gain—he now tipped the scales at eighty-seven pounds—seemed to bolster his ability to control his mounts, other jockeys were not so lucky. Isaac was probably aware of some of the harsh methods they used to keep the pounds from adding up, including being buried in manure, running and riding while wearing h
eavy wool sweaters, limiting their food intake, and practicing a regular regimen of vomiting (which, as we now know, can damage the esophagus and rot the teeth, due to stomach acids).
During the winter, Isaac and Eli Jordan no doubt discussed some the finer points of riding to win, especially how to judge the pace of a race and the speed of a horse. When the weather was right and the horses were ready, Jordan began training his eager apprentice in the field, where Isaac excelled. To get as close to his horse as possible, Isaac would have spent hours in the saddle, learning how the horse's shoulders moved in anticipation of the inevitable impact of its feet on the ground. He would have learned how to balance himself in the stirrups, using his knees and hips and head as he and his charge attacked the course with raw determination and intent. He would have felt the rush of accelerating from a dead standstill to speeds that felt like he would leave the earth forever if he just leaped off the horse with his arms open. Finally, he may have visualized himself riding the perfect Kentucky Derby, as Oliver Lewis had in 1875.
For those involved in the horse-racing business, the work was never ending, especially as it related to developing the next champion Thoroughbred. In the Bluegrass, most trainers and turfmen knew which horses were primed to win the stake races at Nashville, Lexington, and Louisville and which ones could succeed back east at Saratoga, Long Branch, and Monmouth Park. Horses that showed well in the early spring and were in peak condition by June had their legs under them and could begin training for the fall races. Controlled tests to measure a horse's submission to the will of the trainers and jockeys provided a glimpse of the animal's temperament and character both under stress and under ideal circumstances. The profits to be made from investing in a good horse and a proven winner could be phenomenal—earnings from the sale of horses, stud fees, and the auctioning off of foals of a winning breed. However, to win races and make money, one had to do two things: get the horse to run fast, and get the jockey to run smart.
Like the horses, the jockeys underwent conditioning and tests of endurance, especially those who were talented but still unproven, like Isaac. The more real competitions they could ride in, the better they would become. Each time they climbed onto the back of a well-conditioned, well-prepared animal, they had an opportunity to show the maturity and instincts needed to be successful. But there was a catch. The jockey had to want to win more than the trainer, more than the owner or breeder, and more than the other jockeys in the field. And he had to convince the horse he was riding to run fast enough to win the race. Isaac was that kind of jockey. Later in his career, Isaac's good friend and attorney Llewellyn P. Tarleton asked him about the potential of a particular young rider. Isaac sternly replied, “He can't expect to get up and ride right without work and exercising. It was practice that made me know when I was going a 45 or 50 gait.”36 Putting in the necessary work made Isaac great.
It is intriguing to think of Isaac as a track rat, always willing to exercise any horse available to be ridden. Maybe he even imagined what it was like to be a horse, running fast with the wind blowing past him. He likely befriended les belles bêtes with apples and carrots and kept some feed stuffed in his pocket to reward a spirited colt, resisting the saddle or bit, for his good work and cooperation. Isaac and the horses he rode most frequently became kindred spirits. He watched as they ate, slept, and ran freely, getting to know them and understand their habits. Not all jockeys shared Isaac's patience with the horses; some preferred to use the riding whip to intimidate and punish a horse for not running fast enough, demonstrating who was in control. Isaac, however, connected with horses in a way that seemed to create an agreement between equal parties. Isaac may have wondered to himself what the horses were thinking when they saw him. Did they like him? Could they understand him? Isaac saw and understood each horse as an individual with a distinct personality and particular likes and dislikes. Knowing each of his partners so well gave Isaac the edge, allowing him to win on any horse at any time.
In addition to spending time with the horses and training with Jordan, Isaac no doubt benefited from listening to the wisdom being doled out in huge doses by the old philosophers who hung out at the stable and the racetrack, all eager to impart the tiniest bit of information to guarantee an advantage over an unsuspecting rival. Although there is evidence that a number of these men were former colored troops and veterans of the Civil War, there is no indication that any of them knew Isaac's father. If they had, that would have been an important part of Isaac's growth as a man—sharing memories of his father with men who knew him and might have fought beside him during the war. These are just some of the gaps in African American history that we long to know but never will.
Although he was still a year away from participating in his first Kentucky Derby, Isaac had the opportunity to prove his abilities in other races over the five-day period in 1876. In fact, in the Louisville Ladies Stakes for two-year-olds, he showed the skills that would make his name synonymous with dramatic finishes. On May 17, the third day of the meet, Isaac was the jockey of choice to ride Williams and Owings' Springbranch in a field of ten that included another horse from the same stable, Classmate. At the tap of the drum, the field got away, with the bay filly Princess out in front. After only “a few yards,” Classmate took the lead, followed by Lizzie Whipps and Isaac on Springbranch.37 After the three-quarters pole, Isaac managed to maintain his third position, holding off Eva Shirley and Glentina. Down the stretch, Springbranch answered Isaac's call and sprinted past Lizzie Whipps and gained ground on Classmate, only to lose the race by two lengths. Isaac finished second and in the money, which was good for his employer and therefore good for him. He was still learning how to wait for the right time to let his horse open up and get to the finish line first. His second ride atop Springbranch, in the Tennessee Stakes, was not as successful; he finished out of the money in fifth place.
From Louisville, the Williams and Owings stable traveled north to Cincinnati, Ohio, to participate in the Cincinnati Jockey Club meeting at Chester Park, one of the new racecourses in the Midwest. Inaugurated in 1875, the same year as the Louisville Jockey Club, Chester Park fixed its spring racing schedule to come after the Louisville races and before the meetings at St. Louis.38 Officials in Cincinnati understood the value of their city as a major hub between those two other destinations for wealthy owners and breeders, as well as the masses that followed the turf.39 To accommodate patrons of the turf, the Marietta and Cincinnati Railroad created a special train from downtown Cincinnati, near the corner of Pearl and Plum Streets, to Chester Park. Judge Edgar M. Johnson, president of Cincinnati's Queen City Jockey Club and a lawyer by trade, helped build the racecourse to boost the Cincinnati economy as horse-racing insiders and fans traveled to the city.40
Similar to Louisville, Chester Park was energized by a new enthusiasm for racing, and local citizens flocked to the track to enjoy the spectacle of daring jockeys defying death as they piloted their 1,200-pound torpedoes around the dirt tracks designed for that purpose. At the four-day event in Cincinnati, Isaac did not fare so well, finishing fourth in two races on two different days.41 But again, at this stage of his career, what he needed was experience. To continue to develop as a jockey who was capable of winning races consistently, he had to ride as often as he could, testing out Jordan's instructions and critiques, as well as his own self-evaluations. Still, nothing could have prepared Isaac for the politics of the turf and the unintended consequences—both positive and negative—of trying to win at all costs.
In September, at the annual Lexington meeting at the Kentucky Association racetrack, Isaac took a giant leap forward. In the second race of the fifth day, the Colt and Filly Stakes, he won aboard P. Bennett's Glentina, the chestnut filly previously owned by B. F. Pettit, and the same horse Isaac had ridden for his first win at Crab Orchard the previous spring. On this particularly cool and cloudy day, Isaac put everything together, beating a field of horses that included Baden-Baden, a future Kentucky Derby winner, as well as M
cWhirter and King Faro, both winners of major stakes races. The editor of the Kentucky Live Stock Record provided a detailed account of the race:
After several false starts Major [B. G.] Thomas sent the eleven away to a most capital start. The field was so large and the horses crowded together so close on the turn that it was impossible to say who had the lead until half way round the turn, when Glentina's colors showed in front, King Faro who was cut off by the crowding on the turn was second, the remainder of the lot pretty well bunched. Just after passing the quarter, 25 seconds, King Faro showed half a length in front of Glentina with Harry Peyton, Baden Baden and Headlight lapped a length from them. No change occurred down the back stretch or past the half mile, 50¾ seconds. Coming around the lower turn Glentina again showed her nose in front, with Baden Baden lapped on King Faro. They passed the three quarter pole, 1:18, in this order, and on entering the homestretch Glentina increased her lead and finally won by a length, King Faro in second, half a length in front of Harry Peyton, third, who in turn was lapped by McWhirter, fourth, Baden Baden fifth, Allen Pinkerton sixth, Endorser seventh, Bradamante eighth, Headlight ninth, Blarneystone tenth, Victory eleventh. Time, 1:45½.42
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