1882 Derby -- black jockeys gang up on favorite -- sandbagging trainer cashes big bet

[Calzone Lord]

I did a few searches on the 1882 Kentucky Derby won by Apollo the other day and found it to be a pretty amusing race.

Apollo was ridden by a 15-year-old black jockey named Babe Hurd. He tells of how top New York jockey James McLaughlin riled up the black jockeys before the race and he gave a tremendously long and detailed account of the race.

Apollo was trained by Green B. Morris -- a gambler and very long-time trainer who got his start in pony racing against Indians as a boy.

Here is an account of Green B. Morris sandbagging with Apollo.

[Calzone Lord]

Here is the background of the race itself.

[Calzone Lord]

Fast forward to the part where Babe Hurd suggests black riders teamed up on Runnymede.








Interesting facts about the race...Babe Hurd got paid $25 for winning. Runnymede beat Apollo easily a week later.






This piece appeared in a DRF several decades after everything above. Runnymede was called a great horse 50 years later.

[OldDog]

I very much enjoy racing history -- this is great stuff.

I found this in an article in the DRF archives -- here's the link (I hope)
http://kdl.kyvl.org/cgi/t/text/pagev....5;passterms=1

The piece is "Careers of Kentucky Derby Winners" and it was published in 1910.

"Apollo, the winner in 1882, was, like Vagrant, a gelding. He was always an honest running horse after his Derby race and captured some stakes and many purses for his owner, Green B. Morris. He broke down as a five-year-old and Morris presented him to a friend of his wife at Charleston, S.C., and the last that was heard of Apollo he was carrying his mistress over paths underneath the magnolia trees."

How pastoral!

[Calzone Lord]

I was surprised how educated Babe Hurd sounds in his quotes ... he sounds a lot smarter than 90% of todays jockeys and you're talking about a black guy who grew up in 1860's Texas and made his living in Kentucky.

At the time -- the motto of the Jockey Club and the racing associations was "a square deal for all...no matter color or creed" That would change overtime...by the early 1900's black jocks were routinely intimidated off the track and fouled on it.

Here is a funny piece on one of the top black jockeys who wasn't very bright.






This was obviously the era that a racing show like Luck should have focused on.

[OldDog]

Originally Posted by Calzone Lord

This was obviously the era that a racing show like Luck should have focused on.

I laughed!

Hurd, if the quote is accurate, sounds a great deal more articulate than trainer Morris.

As for Hamilton, they didn't mince words, did they. Amazing article. I wonder how many pro athletes today have done much the same with their money?