Man O' War A Legend Like Lightning

Chapter One TWO WARS BEGIN In the green hills of Kentucky, nine days after riding his first winner, an apprentice jockey named John Patrick Loftus got an offer to sell his soul. Fourteen years old, still wearing knee pants when not in jockey uniform, he entered the fifth race at Latonia on Friday, June 24, 1910, with an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other. His mount, a classy colt named Boola Boola, could win easily. But Johnny would be far richer if he made Boola Boola lose. Thursday night, during a streetcar ride, a stranger had propositioned him: two hundred dollars to pull Boola Boola, and make long shot First Peep a "sure thing."1 Two hundred dollars. In 1910, that would buy ten ounces of gold or a thousand large cans of Van Camp's pork and beans. Whatever Johnny wanted, that quick money might be the highest peak he would ever reach. Many apprentice jockeys outgrew the job within months. Johnny weighed less than 100 pounds right now, but with his stocky build, he wouldn't stay light for long. Also, as long as he remained a jockey, he performed a very dangerous job. On June 8, the day after Johnny debuted at the Latonia meet, a veteran jockey named George Glasner had suffered life-threatening injuries when his horse fell during a Latonia race. When Johnny got offered two hundred dollars to pull Boola Boola, Glasner remained hospitalized and seemed unlikely to ride ever again. Now, for losing one race, Johnny Loftus could pocket a fortune that his growing body and risky job might keep him from earning honestly . . . if he was willing to betray the trainer who believed that Johnny could be a successful race rider, and the racehorse-owning senator who trusted him with Boola Boola. Riches, or respect? As Johnny reined Boola Boola onto the track, his life balanced over a tiny saddle about four inches wide. His career balanced between truth and deceit. Thunder, lightning, and drenching rain broke the oppressive heat at Latoniaknown to sweating horsemen as "Death Valley"midway through the program on that Friday afternoon. Casual fans fled. Only horsemen and devoted gamblers stayed, and a reporter noticed the diehards "wagering heavily on their choices."2 Steering Boola Boola through the monsoon, Johnny Loftus made his choice. At the finish, he held the lead by an easy length. Only one horse launched a serious rally: First Peep, gaining like mad through the homestretch, rushing up into second place. Having kept his soul, Johnny could have kept quiet. Instead, he talked about the bribe. That should have shown what an honest boy Johnny Loftus was, letting people know that they could trust him with their good horses. Their actual response must have been a shock. Latonia laughed it off. Johnny couldn't have been tempted on Thursday night, they said, because he hadn't been hired to ride Boola Boola until Friday morning. "Loftus and those responsible for bringing the matter to the attention of the [racetrack] judges are being held to ridicule," the Louisville Courier-Journal declared. ". . . The lad's misrepresentation of facts may cause him to lose his license."3 But he did not. At second glance, logic supported Johnny's story. By Thursday morning, Boola Boola's people had known that their colt would carry only 92 pounds in Friday's race. Few jockeys could ride that light. Ted Rice, the veteran who had finished fourth with Boola Boola in the Kentucky Derby, couldn't do it. Loftus was Latonia's leading lightweight. In the sharp-eyed small town of racetrack life, a generous "stranger" easily could figure the probabilities, or evOurs, Dorothy is the author of 'Man O' War A Legend Like Lightning', published 2006 under ISBN 9780312340995 and ISBN 0312340990.