The Murphy Family
Last Modified 4/5/2007

Isaac Murphy

Isaac Murphy is considered one of the greatest race riders in American history. He was the first jockey to win the Derby on three occasions and consecutive runnings: Buchanan, 1884; Riley, 1890; and Kingman, 1891. He remains the only jockey to win the Derby, Oaks and Clark Handicap in the same year, 1884. Ike or the "Colored Archer" as he was dubbed in reference to the prominent English jockey of the time, Fred Archer, won 44 percent of all races he rode. Isaac Burns (Murphy) was born in 1860 on David Tanner's Pleasant Green Hill Farm in Fayette County, KY. His father enlisted in the Union Army during the Civil War and died as a prisoner of war at Camp Nelson along the Kentucky River. His mother moved to Lexington where the family lived with her father Green Murphy. Upon becoming a jockey at 14, Isaac changed his last name to Murphy in honor his grandfather. Murphy, 35, died of pneumonia February 12, 1896.