Isaac Murphy

Old Friends will host this year's finalists for the Dr. Tony Ryan Book Award for a book signing held Wednesday, Nov. 20 from 12:30-2:30 p.m. at the Josephine Abercrombie Center located at 1841 Paynes Depot Road, Georgetown, KY. The finalists include: Katherine Mooney (Isaac Murphy: The Rise and Fall of a Black Jockey), Kim Wickens (Lexington: The Extraordinary Life and Turbulent Times of America's Legendary Racehorse) and Curtis Stock (The Turcottes: The Remarkable Story of a Horse Racing Dynasty). One semi-finalist will also be available for signing: John Paul Miller...

A trio of authors have been selected as finalists for the 19th annual Dr. Tony Ryan Book Award with the winner being selected on Thursday, Nov. 7 at Castleton Lyons near Lexington, Kentucky, the farm said in a Friday morning release. This year's finalists are: Isaac Murphy: The Rise and Fall of a Black Jockey by Katherine C. Mooney Lexington: The Extraordinary Life and Turbulent Times of America's Legendary Racehorse by Kim Wickens The Turcottes: The Remarkable Story of a Horse Racing Dynasty by Curtis Stock The winner will receive...

With a $10,000 prize to the winner, the Dr. Tony Ryan Book Award named its semi-finalists, the competition said in a Thursday release. Inaugurated in 2006 by the late philanthropist and global executive Tony Ryan, and sponsored by his family's Castleton Lyons Farm near Lexington, Ky., the award honors the best writing related to the Thoroughbred industry published in 2023. Three finalists will be revealed this summer, with the winner announced during a reception at Castleton Lyons later in the year. The semifinalists are (in alphabetical order, by author name):...

The Kentucky-based non-profit organization PPAATH, an abbreviation for the Project To Preserve African American Turf History, has been chosen as consulting producers on a new film entitled 'Become The Wind'/The Isaac Murphy Story. The announcement was made by LeeAnne Matusek, president of B.L.T.N Productions, LLC, and her producing partner Max Adler, who is also an actor. "We are very excited to tell this sweeping tale of Isaac Murphy," said Matusek. "We know we are going to get it right with PPAATH on our team!" Isaac Murphy, an African American jockey...

Edited Press Release Keeneland's popular Library Lecture Series resumes in May with the first of four public events that celebrate recently published works about Thoroughbred racing whose authors conducted research at Keeneland Library. Tickets are $20 per event and will go on sale at 9 a.m., Friday, Apr. 21 at Keeneland.com/library. Proceeds from these ticketed events will benefit the Keeneland Library Foundation, which funds Library preservation, education, outreach and access efforts. The first two installments of the Library Lecture Series will feature books related to the Library's current exhibit, The...

What does the most recognizable jockey of the nineteenth century have in common with a young rider from the 1970s-turned-modern-day playwright? This seemingly disparate pair might be divided by over a century along the continuum, but their experiences, told in a fresh biographical treatment of Isaac Murphy by historian Katherine C. Mooney and through Robert Montano's self-penned and deeply-personal play, have much to tell us about the perilously-seated life in the irons. What they both encountered is particularly instructive for us, especially after the sudden and tragic losses of jockeys...

Leon Nichols, Calvin Davis and affiliates of the Project to Preserve African-American Turf History are seeking additional backing to bring the story of the 1890 Isaac Murphy-Snapper Garrison match race aboard Salvator and Tenny at Sheepshead Bay Park. The event, held after Murphy and Salvator defeated Garrison and Tenny in the Suburban earlier in the year, was billed by press at the time as a race between "Black and white." PPAATH was the subject of a Katie Ritz feature in the TDN in 2020. The nonprofit's founder and co-founder, Nichols...

This year, the annual release of a commemorative Maker's Mark Bourbon bottle in partnership with Keeneland will benefit LexArts, greater Lexington's premier cultural development, advocacy, and fundraising organization, to support its initiatives at the Isaac Murphy Memorial Art Garden in Lexington. Murphy was a Hall of Fame jockey who remains the only rider to win the Kentucky Derby, Kentucky Oaks and Clark H. in the same year (1884). The Art Garden is the first park in the U.S. to honor African American jockeys, who were the earliest Black professional athletes....

Churchill Downs will offer 40 stakes races worth a record $13.44 million during its upcoming Spring Meet, which runs from Apr. 24 through June 26. The nine-week meeting kicks off Derby week with 18 stakes worth $10.14 million and culminating with the 147th running of the $3-million GI Kentucky Derby May 1. The Derby day stakes line-up includes the $1-million GI Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic; $500,000 GI Churchill Downs S. presented by Ford; and $500,000 GI Derby City Distaff. The marquee race day also includes the $500,000 GII Longines...

On a sparsely traveled road in downtown Lexington, African Cemetery No. 2 sits encircled by a worn iron fence. The sounds of cars flashing by nearby busier streets, the incessant barking of a neighboring dog and the harsh droning of a drill from the adjacent auto parts shop carry through the isolated eight-acre plot. Opened in 1869, the site now contains over 5,000 graves, of which fewer than 600 are recognized with markers. The plot inters hundreds of enslaved African Americans, as well as members of the U.S. Colored Troops...