Nostalgic Horse

Jockeys…The Beginnings to 1960…A Nostalgic Look Back.

By: Don Coleman

The remarkable performance and manner of Calvin Borel, both during and after the 2007 Kentucky Derby, left many of us in awe. It was certainly a testament of GENUINE emotion that he exhibited. No one could have witnessed it and not come away with a feeling that maybe in today’s horse racing, with it’s cold cash reality and hard nose sensibilities, there are individuals who really are involved in the game for the love of the thing and not just to profit. It certainly did a great deal to cast away a large bit of the cynical attitude I have been building over the past few years…regarding the business and practices of horse racing…and left me feeling a bit better about…well…people in general.

Jockeys and their fans have always had a love/hate relationship. The fans hate the jocks when they fail and love them when they excel. There are very few jockeys that become the sort of talents that gain the public’s real appreciation for their abilities. The sort of riders that seem to carry their mounts to accomplishments beyond a horse’s natural capabilities. In the history of this sport there are only a very few that ever managed that sort of celebrity and performance. This article is a look back at some of the greats and not so greats that have set the standards and course for the more recent and current reinsmen of the last few decades.

Much of what went before, back in the earliest years of American horse racing, as far as the history of these men goes, is lost in the sad quality of those times. The sport did not come into it’s own until just after the Civil War. Prior to that it had been centered primarily in the rural area of the old south , where, in a good many instances, both horses and their riders were considered property. Slaves of the horses’ owners were generally the men in the saddle in many and most cases. Their recognition was minimal and little recorded. Exceptions existed. There were non slave jockeys, but few ever were well known or received. The situation was little different in the free states either. Racing had a foothold in the vicinity of New York, but the jockeys were considered not much more than equipment…grudgingly being paid for their work. Many of the outstanding horses of those early days were guided by the likes of Abe and Willis. Names known, but unknown too, recorded in passing, without mention of style or their part in a horse’s successes.

Following the Civil War racing began to take on a different appearance. The first real patron oriented racetracks were established, a set of consistently run classic races were brought into the picture…as well as a standard program of lesser trials, racing began to become popular with the public, the Jockey Club was founded, and a commercial racing and breeding industry began to spring up. Along with that, the jockey began to be viewed as more than just essential tack. Their part in a winning effort began to be recognized and sought out.

The first of these jockeys to gain real attention was, fittingly enough, Isaac Murphy…a black man born just outside of Paris, Kentucky, in 1859. He started his riding career at 14. Before his death, in 1896, he had 628 wins from 1412 mounts…or a record of 44%. Pneumonia was sighted as the cause of his early passing…but the disease was acknowledged to have been brought about by purging and a poor diet maintained to meet the weight limits a jockey often has to sustain. He claimed the Kentucky Derby on Riley, Buchanan, and Kingman: the Travers with Falsetto; was on Salvator in the 1890 Suburban Handicap; had winning mounts on Modesty, Volante, Silver Cloud, and Emperor of Norfolk in four of the initial five American Derbys; brought Modesty home in a Kentucky Oaks; and claimed the Saratoga Cup with both Volante and Checkmate. Murphy overcame the prejudices of his times, brought a dignity to his profession via ability, and was the first of his chosen profession to star in the role. He led the way for what was to follow. He was the first jockey inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame.

Many men of Murphy’s ethnic background rode with high accomplishment from about 1865 to 1910…just as they had in previous generations. It wasn’t a singularity by any way of thinking. Jimmy Winkfield, James Lee, Alfie Clayton, Willie Simms, Oliver Lewis, and many others contributed to that era’s racing. 13 of the jockeys in the first Kentucky Derby were black men. 15 of the first 28 Kentucky Derbys were won by black jockeys. Following that period, though, the black man in the saddle all but disappeared…because of unreasoning prejudice. The economy of racing was in a sad state in the early part of the 20th Century. Racing was in trouble in New York…it’s main citadel at the time. The country was in a series of recessions as well. Those kinds of circumstances are the ones that sometimes affect men’s thinking and natures…and produce such things as Jim Crow attitudes and blind hatred. Black jockeys were passed by for mounts and soon either drifted out of horse racing or moved on to more friendly climes outside of America. Jimmie Winkfield left the country and became widely known and respected in Europe…considered one of the finest horsemen to ever be produced in this country.

During this era four other jockeys came to prominence in the saddle. Tod Sloan, Fred Taral, Snapper Garrison, and James McLaughlin.

Sloan was a piece of work. Arrogant. Unabashed in his manner. He refused mounts because of weather conditions on the day of races, told the king of England that he looked like a Walrus, demanded the millionaire owner and breeder J.R. Keene’s suite at a Saratoga hotel be turned over to him one season, and was generally less than sincere and friendly with his peers…keeping company with the wealthy and famous instead. Still, it was Sloan that devised the style of the short stirrup crouch riders use today. And his skills were never in doubt…as he gained fame aboard the winners of races like the Ascot Gold Cup, English 1000 Guineas, Futurity Stakes, and so on and so on…riding from California to England. His years were a round of the high life; in New York, London, and the world. The famous Cohen musical, Yankee Doodle Dandy, was based on his life. He died, however, broke in Los Angeles.

Fred Taral was reputed to be a kind and gentle man off the track. On the racecourse, though, he rode with a will to win that often left his mounts a bloody reminder of spurs and whips. The character of Domino, one of Taral’s regular mounts, was shaped by the jockey. The horse had to be blindfolded in order to allow Taral to climb aboard. He was loved by victorious owners and trainers and fans…but hated by the horses he rode. Taral won a fifth of the races he participated in…taking a count of 1000 wins from 5000 times up. Besides the notoriety he gained with Domino, he won two Preakness Stakes, a Kentucky Derby, a Belmont Stakes, the old Triple Crown of handicap racing (the Brooklyn, Suburban, and Metropolitan Handicaps), and was kept under contract to J.R. Keene’s stable. He immigrated to Germany, in the twilight of his career, where he both rode and trained until the beginning of W.W.I.

Snapper Garrison was another terror on the track. He was a come from behind rider of sorts, and used his spurs and whip to demand 100% and more from the horses he was assigned in those situations. He was often cited for using excessive force, but never gave up his methods. He took the Belmont Stakes aboard Foxford, and was noted as the rider of Boundless, Raceland, Montana, and the horses trained by William Daly. Weight ended his riding days and he retired to be a steward, owner, and trainer.

James McLaughlin was the leading rider, in America, from 1884 to 1887. His career encompassed six Belmont Stakes wins, the Preakness of 1885, the 1881 Kentucky Derby with Hindoo (whom he both rode and trained), and the 1891 Futurity Stakes. Weight forced his retirement at age 31, and he became a steward.

From about 1900 to 1920 American racing became the target of much moral speculation. Government and public sentiment were at their highest and lowest. Gambling was condemned…much like strong drink would be during Prohibition. Spurs disappeared from a jockey’s equipment. The era’s champion horses kept racing barely breathing…and then Man O’War and the reinstatement of legal wagering brought it back to life. It was a time of change. Many of the best horsemen had left the country for the better conditions in Europe, but some jockeys like Johnny Loftus, Joe Notter, Walter Miller, Carroll Shilling and a younger crowd headed by Earl Sande, Linus McAtee, Mack Garner, and Clarence Kummer both stuck it out and started their careers.

Walter Miller began and ended his riding days before he was 20, because of the classic problem of weight and size. From 1905 to 1908, however, he was the golden kid. At 16, in 1906, he claimed 388 wins…the first time a jockey had passed the 300 mark. That was a seasonal record that stood alone until 1950 when it was tied by Bill Shoemaker and J. Culmone…and later broken by Tony DeSpirito’s 390 victories in 1952. He rode the likes of Colin in most of his starts, had the winning mount in Whimsical’s Preakness, Gallavant’s Travers, Superman’s Brooklyn Handicap, and numerous other major races.

Joe Notter led the standings in money won for 1908. But his professional high came in 1915 when he guided Regret to a wire to wire win in the Kentucky Derby…in her first start of the season…probably one of the most amazing feats of riding in Thoroughbred history. Among the other noted horses he was seen on were Celt, Maskette, Ballot, Sweep, and Whisk Broom II while working for some of the top stables of the era.

Carroll Shilling was the product of the bull rings and dusty little half milers of racing in the old days of Texas, Oklahoma, and Mexico. He moved on to the big time after that learning period, and between 1908 and 1912 counted a Kentucky Derby, Futurity Stakes, Travers Stakes, two Alabama Stakes, Matron Stakes, Spinaway Stakes, Coronation Futurity, Grand Union Hotel Stakes, and numerous major handicaps to his credit. From 3838 mounts he won with 969…mostly longshots that made him a favorite of the fans. Possessed of a quick temper and memories of the shadier styles of riding learned in his early days, however, he was eventually ruled off for a number of widely known infractions. His life went down hill in quick order after that, and in 1950 he was found frozen to death in the back of a horse van at Belmont Park.

Racing was in a state of siege in those years. Racing’s powers that be were determined to hold the line. Rumors of offenses and all offenses against the rules or appearance of propriety were harshly dealt with. For Johnny Loftus the times would prove a disaster. Considered one of the finest jockeys of the era; he rode Sir Barton through his Triple Crown campaign, guided War Cloud to a Preakness victory, had George Smith in his Kentucky Derby win, and was the assigned jockey during all of Man O’War’s juvenile season. The latter mount was his downfall. The loss to Upset, in the 1919 Sanford Stakes, was never really attributed to Loftus. Man O’War, with Loftus in the irons, was turned in the wrong direction when the starter slipped the web. Loftus was in the saddle, though, and rumors were spread…especially after it became apparent just how unbeatable Man O’War was. Loftus was denied a license the following year…and never was allowed to ride officially again. He trained for a while, but eventually he disappeared from sight…pretty much gone without a trace.

The decades of the1920s and 1930s were ones of sporting world stars and their legends. Earl Sande was the jockey that brought that climate to horse racing. He was, probably, the first real horse racing personality that could be described as an icon. Poetry was written about him, women threw themselves at him, trainers begged for his services, owners offered him piles of cash to ride their horses, and the fans worshipped him. He was the king of the jockeys. His mounts included Flying Ebony, Zev, Bateau, Grey Lag, Chance Shot, Mad Play, Altawood, Mad Hatter, Petee Wrack, Crusader, Chance Play, Flambette, and Gallant Fox. He won three Kentucky Derby runs, a Preakness Stakes, the C.C.A. Oaks, five Belmont Stakes, three Jockey Club Gold Cups, a Triple Crown, and almost every major race staged in the New York area. After his days on Gallant Fox, in the mid 1930s, though, he gave up the saddle…because of the common battle with weight and health suffered eventually by most jockeys. He took up training, and was the conditioner of some pretty nice horses…including the Santa Anita Derby-Santa Anita Handicap double winner Stagehand. In the early 1950s, however, he was having financial problems, and attempted a riding come back. It lasted only 10 starts…9 losses…and finally the one win that let him hang up his tack with dignity.

Sande wasn’t the only talent around in that period. Linus McAtee took the Derby with both Clyde Van Dusen and Whiskery; Mack Garner rode in the Kentucky Derby 14 times and won it with Cavalcade in 1934; Sonny Workman was well regarded, and was on Seabiscuit at times; Red Pollard had his day on Seabiscuit; Charles Kurtsinger had the mounts on Twenty Grand and War Admiral more often than not; Steve Brooks and Doug Dodson would begin their occupations in the ’30s and ride on to championships in the ‘40s; Johnny Adams began a career that saw him head the jockey standings in 1937, 1942, and 1943; as did Don Meade…who tied up riding titles in 1939 and 1941.

A kid from Cincinnati made his debut, at a long forgotten Cleveland racecourse in 1931, however, and in the next three plus decades turned racing on it’s ear…and replaced Sande as the hero of the crowds. Eddie Arcaro had his first win on an Agua Caliente claimer, named Eagle Bird, in 1932 and his last victory came in 1962 aboard Taboo in the International Stakes at Caulfield Racecourse in Victoria, Australia. Seems odd that one of America’s most famous jockeys should have began and ended his racing days outside the country, but during the intervening years he would win the Kentucky Derby with Lawrin, Whirlaway, Hoop Jr., Citation, and Hill Gail; the Preakness Stakes with Whirlaway, Citation, Hill Prince, Bold, Nashua, and Bold Ruler; the Belmont Stakes with Whirlaway, Shut Out, Pavot, Citation, One Count, and Nashua; the C.C.A. Oaks onboard Real Delight, How, and Bowl of Flowers; the Jockey Club Gold Cup with Firethorn, Pavot, Citation, Hill Prince, High Gun, Nashua, Sword Dancer, and Kelso; two Santa Anita Handicaps on Talon and Mark Ye Well; the Futurity Stakes with Weatherwise, Our Boots, First Flight, Battlefield, Nashua, and Bold Ruler; the Suburban Handicap riding Devil Diver, Assault, Vulcan’s Forge, Nashua, Traffic Judge, Bold Ruler, Sword Dancer, and Kelso. He rode for the best stables of the era. His record was 24,092 mounts, 4779 wins, 7109 placings, and $30,039,543 in purses won. His retirement years were comfortable and void of the problems associated with some of the ex-jockeys mentioned above. He continued to be a spokesman for the sport that had allowed him to exercise his talents with such remarkable ability…respected as the dean of American jockeys.

Contemporaries, who started out during the same time period as Arcaro, included George Woolf and Johnny Longden.

Woolf was known as the “Iceman” for his cool and unmoving seat in the saddle. He seemed to be motionless, but inspired his mounts to their best efforts all the same. Azucar took him home in the first Santa Anita Handicap; he rode Whirlaway in a Jockey Club Gold Cup win; guided two American Derby victories; took the Preakness Stakes in 1936; and the first three Hollywood Gold Cups aboard Seabiscuit, Kayak II, and Challedon…among other major races. His reputation, nature, and character have been honored yearly…as the season’s leading jockey receives the George Woolf Memorial Award for outstanding contributions to the riding profession. Woolf died in a fall, at Santa Anita.

Born in England, in 1910, Longden was raised in the mining country of western Canada. At 17 he headed for the brush and sage tracks of Utah, Washington, and Idaho…learning his trade on the hard side of the sport. His fortunes began to change, in 1932, once he moved on to the more established racing found at Mexico’s Agua Caliente…where he first came to light aboard the Agua Caliente Derby winner Bahamas. He maintained a steady string of major wins from then right on through to the 1960s. Heading the list of horses he rode and races he won were Count Fleet’s Triple Crown; Whirlaway’s Hopeful Stakes; five Santa Anita Derbys with On Trust, Salmagundi, Your Host, Swaps, and Four and Twenty; T.V. Lark’s Washington D.C. International; four Santa Anita Handicaps aboard Thumbs Up, Noor, Moonrush, and Bobby Brocato; four Hollywood Gold Cups on Noor, Royal Serenade, Correspondent, and Prince Blessed; the Hollywood Derby five times with Busher, Solidarity, Pedigree, Four and Twenty, and Real Good Deal; four San Juan Capistrano Handicaps guiding Noor, Be Fleet, St. Vincent, and George Royal; the Kentucky Oaks on Blue Grass; two Hollywood Oaks; two Champagne Stakes; five Hollywood Lassie Stakes; three Hollywood Juvenile Championship Stakes; the Metropolitan and Suburban Handicaps on Snark; five San Felipe Stakes; two Lawrence Realization Stakes; the Brooklyn Handicap with The Chief; four Santa Margarita Handicaps; the Sunset Handicap; three San Pasqual Handicaps; and in 1956 bested Gordon Richards mark as the world’s winningest jockey with his 4871st win. By the time he retired his total wins would pass 6000. In later years he would gain even more fame as a trainer…with horses like Majestic Prince, the Kentucky Derby hero of 1969, under his care.

Residing just below the merits of Arcaro and Longden in the 1940s and early 1950s, Ted Atkinson was always a threat in any major event his mounts participated in. He stole the Narragansett Special from Whirlaway in 1941 riding War Relic to a perfectly paced 4 ½ length win; was the guiding factor on Capot for Greentree; had the mount on Tom Fool in his hey days; and towards the end of his career was seen mustering Nashua to win the Wood Memorial Stakes from a charging Summer Tan. He was sought out and respected by horsemen and fans. His wins included the 1949 Preakness; 1951 American Derby; three Alabama Stakes; two Futurity Stakes; two Travers Stakes; three Brooklyn, Suburban, and Metropolitan Handicaps apiece; three Pimlico Specials; a Santa Anita Derby; and riding championships in 1944 and 1946…as well as other minor and major stakes events. His record stood at 3795 wins at it’s conclusion.

With Arcaro, Longden, Atkinson, and several others heading the rosters entering the 1950s, the lists appeared to be sown up among the established jockeys. There would be, however, others making their debuts in the ‘50s…starting out on careers that led on past the decade. Bill Boland, a kid from Texas, caught a ride on Middleground to win the Kentucky Derby in 1950 and was still brilliant in the ‘60s when he rode Beau Purple over Kelso and Carry Back in the 1962 Suburban Handicap and Amberoid to a Belmont Stakes victory. Eric Guerin would gain a large reputation riding Native Dancer to national stardom…as well as High Gun in his classic season. Dave Gorman was noted for his performances on Counterpoint. Tony DeSpirito…a 17 year old apprentice…led the jockey standings, with 390 winners, in 1952. Dave Erb rode Needles to etch his name on a couple of classics. John Sellers would make a start that eventually led to Carry Back and the 1961 classics. John Rotz would make his appearance. Braulio Baeza, up from Panama, began a long and successful career…ridiing for Fred Hooper and many others…scoring in the classics and astride some of the best seen in his times. Ismael Valenzuela would be onboard Tim Tam in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, Kelso in many of his later wins, and Forward Pass for Calumet Farm sometime later. Manuel Ycaza would eventually put his mark on the sport as one of the most often suspended jockeys riding in the ‘60s, but as one of the most determined stakes riders around too. Robert Ussery rode with style and ended up on horses like Bally Ache and Hail to Reason in the 60s. Walter Blum started out in the 50s, also, and rode on well into the next decade and beyond. And a number of others tried their hands in the top ranks. From 1950, until 1960, though, the year end jockey standings for money won and wins contained just six names for the 20 possible placings…J. Culmone once in a tie for wins, C. Burr once for wins, A. DeSpirito once for wins, E. Arcaro three times for purses won, Bill Hartack four times for wins and twice for purses earned, and Bill Shoemaker five times for wins (one a tie) and six times for purses. The very top ranks had been established.

In 1953 Bill Hartack gained some national attention with 350 winners to his credit. He was still an apprentice…pretty much fresh out of Pennsylvania and ready for action. His personality was something on the spring loaded side…from all reports. Often whipped in the newspapers as a prima donna…because of his outspoken nature and fiery disposition…he was still one of the three best jockeys of his times. He was in the irons of Kentucky Derby winners Iron Liege, Venetian Way, Northern Dancer, Decidedly, and Majestic Prince; Preakness Stakes winners Fabius, Northern Dancer, and Majestic Prince; and the Belmont Stakes victor Celtic Ash. Beginning at Waterford Park in West Virginia, his career saw him on 21,535 horses and bring home 4272 winners. Among the others he was given charge of were Tim Tam, Idun, Ridan, Kelso, and Round Table. His last ride was in Hong Kong in 1980…having ridden there from 1978 to 1980 as an expatriate jockey. His talents and sheer will to win place him in the all time greats category. By last reports, now in his late 70s, he is still active in racing…serving as a steward in Louisiana.

William Lee Shoemaker was a product of Texas, born in the same year Arcaro rode his first race. Fabens, Texas was the birthplace, but he was raised in Southern California, attended El Monte High School, and took his first job with Thomas Simmons…as a stableboy for the co-founder and president of Hollywood Park. Working at Simmons’ Suzy Q Ranch he learned the basics…schooling yearlings and doing exercise tasks. Later he moved on to Bay Meadows and worked as an exercise rider there. After three years of instruction and practice, he won his first race aboard Shafter V on April 20, 1949 at Golden Gate Fields. It would be the beginning of the sort of career that only a handful of jockeys have gained or hope to approach. Stretching back to his first major win, on Great Circle, in the 1951 Santa Anita Maturity…Shoemaker’s victories encompassed a world of champions and championship racing. 40,352 mounts, 8833 wins, and 1009 stakes wins…his time in the saddle covered 41 years…from that first with Shafter V. to his last ride on Patchy Groundfog on February 3, 1990. His last win actually took place on Beau Genius in the Hallendale Handicap, on January 20, 1990, but he felt he owed the California fans his last performance, and stayed on the job to give them the last good-bye…even if it did turn out to be a fourth place finish. During his time up he claimed the honors in almost every major American stake or handicap race. He won the Kentucky Derby with Swaps, Tomy Lee, Lucky Debonair, and Ferdinand; the Preakness Stakes with Candy Spots and Damascus; and the Belmont Stakes with Gallant Man, Sword Dancer, Jaipur, Damascus, and Avatar. Among the champions he rode were the above mentioned classic winners, John Henry, Bagdad, Round Table, Cicada, Rejected, Silky Sullivan, Spectacular Bid, Intentionally, Hill Rise, Tom Rolfe, Gun Bow, Olden Times, Never Bend, Ack Ack, Forego, Crimson Satan, Native Diver, Bed O’Roses, Exceller, Silver Spoon, Pucker Up, Northern Dancer, and a whole host of others. His record spanned the later days of Arcaro and ran up to the times of Cordero, Day, Stevens and others half and less his age. When he took the Kentucky Derby with Ferdinand he was 54 years old…the oldest jockey to ever win the race. He was still the star…as long as he was in the irons…win or loose. In retirement he took up training, but was slowed in that profession by circumstance. On April 8, 1991 he was involved in an auto accident, and was paralyzed from the neck down. It was a traumatic event, of course, but by September of 1991 he was back at the track supervising his stable. He never matched his riding skills as a trainer, but did send out the winners of over $3,000,000 up until his full retirement in 1997. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1958. He died on October 12, 2003…well remembered and respected.

Horse racing and the abilities of it’s jockey cadre did not stop in 1960. There are, of course, the greats of the last 40 + years. Men like Cordero, Pincay, Day, Stevens, Baze, Maple, McCarron, and all the rest…who will be followed by Prado, Gomez, Borel, and their contemporaries into fame and championships. Racing will always be producing a certain type of keen individual who stands out in the winner’s circle. I have only touched on the early days of this profession here…the first 100 years or so…hoping to inspire a bit of nostalgia and give an impression of what went before. There were others, though, who plied their trade in those days, and though they didn’t gain the status or fame of the greats and near greats they kept the horses pointed in the direction that has led up to today and the future. They’re all in the record books…take a look.

One Response so far