Horse Racing

Vehicle that evokes Jockey’s War to ride


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What does the most recognizable jockey of the 19th century have in common with a young jockey from a 1970s modern-day playwright? This seemingly disparate pair may have been divided for more than a century along a continuum, but their experiences, recounted in a new biographical treatment of Isaac Murphy by historian Katherine C Mooney and through Robert Montano’s self-written and deeply personal play, has much to tell us about the perilous life in the iron.

What both encountered was particularly instructive for us, especially after the sudden and tragic loss of riders. Alex Canchari a few weeks ago And Avery Whisman in early January. Their deaths serve as a vivid reminder of the fragile and destructive nature of inner pain. In mourning for Canchari, 29, and Whisman, 23, perhaps it is helpful at this point to try to take a step toward understanding it all. That is by no means a guaranteed panacea, but what we do know is that different means can help us digest, reflect, learn and process.

Murphy’s Weight

First, Mooney’s upcoming monograph is titled, Isaac Murphy: The Rise and Fall of a Black Horseman Published by Yale University’s Black Lives series, deals with the life of a racer who overcame the Jim Crow America race as he won an impressive victory over the racers. white racers at races from New York to Kentucky to California in the 1880s and ’90s. As Mooney so eloquently and sadly described in her brilliant work Race Horse Men: How slavery and freedom were created at the racetrack (2014), Black riders were kicked out of the sport when new laws were passed that affirmed the power of white laws. They never returned, but to this day, they have not been forgotten. If you haven’t read it and you love the sport, you’re missing out on something.

Isaac Murphy: The Rise and Fall of a Black Horse Rider by Katherine C. Mooney | Yale University Press

This time, the author focuses her attention on Murphy, an athlete known as a household name who has inspired people of other racial and socioeconomic backgrounds. each other to support him. It was the overt form of his personality, the form on which his ability to effectively cross color boundaries rested on what seemed like a bottomless pit filled with drive and determination when he won. With a riding style that comes from the clouds, helping to preserve the power of the mount until the last possible moment, Murphy’s ultimate approach excites the masses.

Mooney also offers an opportunity to learn about the private person, who rarely gives interviews or leaves many records related to his health. That can be instructive as throughout his life on some of the best Thoroughbreds in North America, he has constantly battled “weight gain”.

Tenny with driver Isaac Murphy | Keeneland Library

It did damage to it.

More than just a seasonal racer, Murphy has traveled the country working as often as possible under contract for a particular owner, in addition to freelance work. Although he made what today equates to millions of dollars in earnings, he was constantly scrambling throughout his riding days to go from 140 pounds to a dangerously low 110. .

Mooney told us that, despite his successes, the frequently mentioned three-match Derby statistic, etc., that Murphy was hampered later in his career by the allusion that he was. He was driving while drunk. Racing in New Jersey’s own Monmouth Handicap in 1890 on the seasoned mare Firenze 6-5, the pair finished last with the rider falling after he crossed the line. Shock and fear enveloped the competent crowd and in a later hearing, Murphy explained that he skipped breakfast that morning, drinking a few glasses of milk, often interpreted as a panacea in this day and age. . Later that day, with his wife by his side in the stands, he drank ginger ale and mineral water, which are hardly anything for a balanced diet.

Author Katherine Mooney | Christopher T. Martin

Despite his impressive riding skills, it took a lot of effort to get on the saddle against time and his own metabolic rate. Murphy has a desire and knows that back home in Lexington, Kentucky, his family is counting on him to provide. Finally, heart failure ended his life at the age of 35. The demands of the profession demanded a terrible price. As Mooney prophetically explains, “The riders ultimately depend on those who use them.”

Theater Montano

Like Isaac Murphy, Robert Montano was born for the stage. A dancer and actor from theater to screen, he has worked with the likes of Chita Rivera to Mark Wahlberg. Growing up in Hempstead, New York in the 1970s with parents who dared to let their kids dream, one afternoon his mother took the 12-year-old boy to Belmont Park. She told her son they were there to “pick kitchen tiles,” the code for a hopeful bet. Montano was captivated by pomp and circumstance. Immediately, when he saw the reverence for the racehorses, he was hooked.

“Working and learning from those professionals had a huge impact on me, and their toughness and discipline set me on the path I am still on today,” he said. “Robert Pineda taught me about saddle balance and he really sheltered me as a teenager, giving me the opportunity to ride.”

Robert Montano rides as an equestrian | Robert Montano

The ticket on the back of Montano is a neighbor and his wife, who both work at nearby Belmont Park. They got him a job cutting carrots, which is where everyone started. He eventually graduated to equestrian gymnastics there and at the nearby Aqueduct Racecourse, but the concurrent life of his high school life was something out of the ordinary.

Like every new apprentice, the bright-faced young man was miserable because of his weight. His commitment prompted him to do endless laps around his neighborhood, while he later sweated it out in the local YMCA sauna, wearing jackets and sweaters, as people The burly man looked on in amazement. Still, he dreams of wearing silk suits that will make him a full-fledged member of the New York racing colony.

Like the professional dancer he would become, health became the total focus for Montano. Even so, he was tempted by the dark side of weight loss when he reached out to the “Doctor,” who had seen patients near the local Argo Theatre. The appetite suppressant had worn off and when his father, an art professor, found out, he told his son: “No more, this is not the way to follow your dreams. .”

With Pineda’s guidance, he finally got his first horse in a real race at the age of 16. It was March 2, 1977. But there was a problem. That morning in Belmont, he fell from his horse during practice and severely injured his ribs. At the Emergency Room, he begged the treating doctor to bandage him, and begged his case to his parents, who looked worried. Fixed and heavily bandaged, he made it to the race, finishing last. He said: “Despite some serious injuries, it was a big moment for me and I love every minute of it.

Robert Montano tops the article | Robert Montano

Montano rode only six other times, never making any money, and although time and genetics were working against him, those experiences set him on a different path. At the age of 20, he won a scholarship to New York’s Adelphi University to enter the world of dance and theater, another place where performance skills are valued.

As his new career was blossoming, he ran into a director who asked him about his first love. “The track,” he said without hesitation. “You should write something about that experience,” the director told him. So, after years of writing and digging into emotions he hadn’t touched since those early days, he did.

Robert Montano on stage at Adelphi University | Robert Montano

This week on the campus of Kean University in Hillside, New Jersey, Montano’s LITTLE, which premiered at the Penguin Rep Theater in Stony Point, New York last year, will take the stage. Making 24 different installments, he will transform and change into the characters surrounding his life as he moves towards adulthood. As he said, “LITTLE My mission is to give the audience authenticity and this is an opportunity to pay tribute to those who have stuck with this great sport.”

With an intentionally capitalized title, Montano’s play examines his personal struggles to remain small, as he battles addiction and finds his place on the planet. world. Now a performer of a different kind, he borrows his own perspective from the saddle in the form of a play. Using the visceral experiences of his youth, LITTLE have the opportunity to grow looming.

The battle to ride

Whether jockeys ride seven races or 7,000 races, they are bound by the pursuit of a profession that requires rigorous discipline. While the work offers the opportunity to spark pure talent, both Katherine Mooney’s biography of Isaac Murphy and Robert Montano’s biography LITTLE, suggesting how the challenges on horses are balanced by their love of the racetrack. Let’s not forget, sadly, the lives of Alex Canchari and Avery Whisman ended in pursuit of their passion while trying to cope with inner pain. As the people in the irons enter our memories, we should remember that their struggles were real and not fictional. Both of these vehicles may be just what we need at this point, as they suggest that over a period of time the name may change, but what Montano aptly calls “The War to ride”, still.

Isaac Murphy: The Rise and Fall of a Black Horseman by Katherine Mooney, Yale University Press, 177 pages, photographs, appendices, glossary, May 2023.

LITTLE by Robert Montano, co-presented by Premiere Stages and Kean Stage, directed by Jessi D. Hill, Saturday, March 18 at Kean University’s Enlow Recital Hall, 215 North Avenue, Hillside, NJ 07205.

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