Los Angeles herald., 1905-08-14
BOYS NOW IN SADDLE LACK
IN CLASS
WINNERS OF OTHER YEARS
Black Pilots Of Thoroughbreds For
merIy Ranked High Among the
Knights Of the Plgskin-Thelr
Rise and Fall

A dispatch from Lexington KY, says:
The present racing season shows
plainly the passing of the colored
jockey. While it is true WINFIELD is
winning honors in the saddle in the
land of the czar, and d. Austin has had
number of winning brackets in the
west this year, there is today no colored
rider to be mentioned in the same
breath with such jockeys as Lyme,
Hildebrand, Shaw, Odom, O'Neill,
BARNES, j. Martin, w. Davis and Red
fern.
The colored rider traces his origin to
ante-bellum times. He was the product
of slavery, becoming a race rider for
his owner because he lacked the
physique for work in the fields. After
the war racing again f1ourished in the
south, and as it was hard in the early
seventies to get white boys to work
alongside of the then free negroes the
latter had opportunities at that time
which do not exist today. So strong
were the colored riders, even a decade
back, that at one time at Washington
park, Chicago, they had in formation
an organization to control all the choice
mounts, and the Chicago daily papers
openly charged at the time that such
a trust existed, and the accusation all
but brought on one of the greatest turf
scandals of recent years.
Old Abe was the first colored rider to
go east and win laurels, he riding Aste-
roid, Norfolk, Watson, Merrill and other
stars in R. A. Alexander's Woodburn
farm stable He won the Travers
stakes with the latter at Saratoga in
1866. Brown Dick, now famous as a
trainer, Ben Brush being one of the
stars he developed. was also a success
full jockey in the time Of Old Abe and
rode many winners for Alexander and
Dan Swigert.
After Old Abe and Brown Dick had
retired, the best colored riders to follow
were Jim Ross, John Clay and John
Samples. The former rode the great
horse Wanderer for Rice & McCor-
mach, Sample rode Longfellow for
Uncle John Harper and Clay was in the
employ of Maj B. G. Thomas. The
latter quit the saddle after being badly
injured by War Jig falling with him
in a race on the Kentucky association
track. After long lay up in the hos
pital he finally recovered and later be-
came successful trainer. He has
prospered in business in every way since
he quit the saddle, and is today the
wealthiest of all colored Jockeys, own
ing some very valuable real estate in
Washington, D. c.
Sample. who won the Monmouth cup
at Long Branch in 1871 with Longfel-
low, soon had to leave the saddle on
account of his weight, and was at last
account on the police force In Cincin-
natl. Ross died years ago of consump-
ton.
Rider of Ten Brock
The next era saw William Walker
and Noah Haywood the leading col
OtSu tiuClSs Inc lOIIlleF Will live In
turf history for all time, as he rode
Ten Broeck in all his record break
ing performances. He is now train
ing public stable, but for a num-
ber of years was John e. Madden's $
right bower. Isaac Murphy perhaps
the greatest Of all colored jockeys,
came into international prominence
when he won the Travers stakes at
Saratoga on Falsetto. defeating James
r. Keene's great horse, spendthrift.
This was in 1879, and for years after
ward Murphy was star of the pig
skin. He won the Suburban handi-
cap on Salvador, the American Derby
four times with Modesty, Volante, Sill
Yer Cloud and Emperor OF Norfolk,
and was for several yeras the high
est salaried jockey Of his day. He
rode over 500 winners. doing his last
riding In 1895. He accumulated a for
tune, but lived very high after his
retirement from the saddle and left
but small estate when he died sew
eral years ago. Next to Murphy, Pike
Barnes, now said to be dying In Col