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by Amanda Harper | courtesy photos on this page: Isaac Burns Murphy

Widely considered to be one of the greatest riders in Thoroughbred racing history, Isaac Burns Murphy was the first jockey inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. On January 6, 1861, Murphy was born into slavery in Clark County, Kentucky. His mother was an enslaved person until becoming a refugee at Camp Nelson in 1864. His father, Jerry Burns, was a freedman who enlisted there with the 114th US Colored Troops regiment. James would go on to fight in some of the most decisive battles of 1865. Following his father's death during the war, Murphy's mother took her son to live with her father, Green Murphy, an auction crier in Lexington, Kentucky. The young man, then known as Isaac Burns, changed his last name to Murphy to honor his grandfather during his horse racing career. In 1867, Murphy and his mother made a move that would forever impact the young man's life. Murphy's mother was hired to work at Lexington racing stable. "Uncle" Eli Jordan, a famous Black trainer, noticed Murphy's small stature and put him on one of the stable's best runners. Murphy had found his calling. He began his racing career at age fourteen. During that time in American history, horse racing was built on the skill, talent and hard work of Black trainers, riders, stable hands and grooms. Black riders were the sports stars of the era. In fact, the inaugural winner of the Kentucky Derby was another Black Lexingtonian: Oliver Lewis, who rode Aristides. Isaac Burns Murphy would go on to become one of the highest-paid athletes of the time. He would ride in eleven Kentucky Derbies, winning three – the first jockey to do so; in 1884 aboard Buchannan, 1890 on Riley and 1891 with Kingman. Kingman was the first horse co-owned by an African-American to win the Kentucky Derby. To this day, Murphy remains the only jockey to have won the Derby, the Oaks and the Clark Handicap in the same year. He won four of the first five American Derby races, which was the richest race of that time. His career was marked with incredible wins and unbelievable stats. During his peak, he was said to earn up to $20,000 a year at a time when the average yearly income for a family of four was just $1,200.

I acBur Murphy The most famous race of Murphy's career was in June 1890 aboard Salvator. As the most-famous Black jockey of the time, he rode in a dead-heat against his rival jockey, Edward Garrison, considered the most famous white jockey of the day. So close was the race that the outcome had to be determined by a photograph taken by John C. Hemment – the first instance of a "photo finish." His frequent tight wins were known as "Murphinishes." But aside from his incredible talent as a rider, Murphy was known by friends and colleagues for his honesty and loyalty. Gamblers tried to entice him to throw the 1879 Kenner Stakes, but Murphy refused to let champion Falsetto lose. By his own estimation, Murphy won 628 of his 1,412 starts. That 44% victory rate has never been matched. (Incomplete records put his win rate at 34.5%, still a number that has not been equaled in American horse racing.) His career waned as racial discrimination lowered the number of Black riders. Rumors of alcoholism plagued Murphy when he fell off his horse in 1890, but the jockey maintained that health issues caused his dizziness. He won his last race in 1895 on an 8 - 1 horse. Off-season weight gain ended his career, but continual efforts to lose the weight may have contributed to his death. Murphy died in 1896 at the age of 36, likely of heart failure following a bout of pneumonia. While over 500 people attended his funeral, his unmarked grave in Lexington's African Cemetery No. 2 went forgotten until the 1960s. Frank B. Borries, Jr. spent three years identifying the jockey's gravesite. In 1967, Murphy was moved to the old Man o' War burial site. He was again reinterred when the Kentucky Horse Park was built, placing him next to Man o' War at the park entrance. The Kentucky Horse Park placed a newly engraved headstone for the champion rider in 2015 and told his story through a handful of interpretive panels. Murphy's incredible accomplishments – along with those of his fellow Black jockeys – were largely ignored until the civil rights movement in the United States. Now, his legacy is celebrated and honored. The National Turf Writers and Broadcasters give the Isaac Murphy Award to the jockey with the highest winning percentage each year.

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To learn more about this jockey's incredible career, read The Prince of Jockeys: The Life of Isaac Burns Murphy by Pellom McDaniels III, available from kentuckypress.com.

I acBur Murphy O r Lew

li Le is was born in Fayette County in 1856. Very little is known about Lewis, aside from the fact that he was born free to parents Goodson and Eleanor Lewis – in fact, more is known about the life of the most famous horse he rode, Aristides.

The first Kentucky Derby was held on May 17, 1875 at what was then known as the Louisville Jockey Club – which would later become Churchill Downs. Some 10,000 spectators came out to see the race.

Lewis was just 19 then, sitting atop a chestnut Thoroughbred colt, one of two entered by owner and breeder H. Price McGrath. Trained by former slave Ansel Williamson, the colt was supposed to be "the rabbit" – breaking ahead early to set the pace and allow the owner's other horse, Chesapeake, to come from behind and win.

As planned, Aristides broke in front and was overtaken at the end of the first quarter. Unexpectedly, however, he fought to take back the lead, creating such a distance that Chesapeake had no hope of catching up. Lewis knew he wasn't supposed to win and looked to McGrath – who gladly waved him on from the homestretch. Two horses challenged horse and rider, but Aristides and Lewis won by a stretch. His time for the (then) mile and a half long course was 2.37.75, an American record for that distance.

Lewis would go on to place second in the Belmont Stakes aboard Aristides. He also won three races at the Louisville Jockey Club that year. Despite what would become a legendary success, Lewis's jockey career was short-lived. He eventually became a bookmaker and developed detailed handicapping charts and form sheets. He died in 1924 and was buried in Lexington's African Cemetery No. 2. Today, we recognize what a historic ride that first Kentucky Derby was. Lexingtonians celebrate this jockey's life as they travel along Oliver Lewis Way.

To learn about Oliver Lewis other important Black Kentucky historical figures, visit nkaa.uky.edu.Le n :

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Born in 1926, "Rudy" Carter grew up in Maddoxtown, a small African-American community in Lexington. Most of the men living in the area either farmed or worked on Lexington horse farms. Carter grew up dreaming of being a jockey. During his long school bus rides to the segregated Douglass School, he saw men training horses from the window. He would pretend to mimic their work, practicing his horsemanship on his mother's kitchen chairs. At 15, he decided to leave school to work with horses; he became an exercise rider at Elsmeade Farm. He broke yearlings for Cy White, who called him a natural horseman.

Carter had the honor of watching legendary groomsman (and the Carters' neighbor) Will Harbut handle Man o' War at Faraway Farm. The high-strung, aging horse needed expert care, and Harbut spoke to the champion as he would a person. Harbut allowed Carter to sit astride the horse, making him the last living person to do so: Man o' War lived just one month after Harbut passed away. As a young man, Carter had a second reason to visit Harbut so often; he wanted to date the groomsman's daughter, Lillian. Carter served in the Navy during WWII and married her after coming home. They would be married for 56 years, raising nine children together. Carter's long-standing dream of being a jockey had been on hold due to Jim Crow laws; many states refused to license Black jockeys. In 1967, Doug Davis with High Hope Farm asked Carter to ride Royal Matter in the second running of the High Hope Steeplechase. With his family forced to stand outside the track because of segregation, Carter won his only race. Carter's incredible career took him to many race courses and farms. In addition to working with Doug Davis, he worked with Andy Shetland at Belmont, Bruce Hundley at Saxony Farm, Keeneland and more. Carter worked at Saxony Farm for 25 years, retiring in 2002. Upon his wife's death, he started working at the Kentucky Horse Park's Hall of Champions, working with retired racehorses. For fourteen years, "Gene" was a staple of the park experience. He passed away at 93, leaving behind an incredible legacy and a lifetime of treasured memories. • To read more about Carter and countless other unsung Black horsemen from racing history, visit africanamericanhorsestories.org or tour the Black Horsemen of the Kentucky Turf at the International Museum of the Horse inside the Kentucky Horse Park. photos courtesy of the Kentucky Horse Park

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