To be perfectly honest, I was unsure what I was going to blab about in the midweek column until last night. That’s when I stumbled upon something I had no idea about until it came across my Facebook feed. That’s where I saw an item from a group that features historical tidbits and photographs on my hometown, Norwood, Ohio.
The post mentioned that the winning jockey of the 1908 Kentucky Derby was “a Norwood boy.” Immediately, I was intrigued, so I dug a little deeper, and I was more than a little surprised at what I eventually discovered.
The track conditions at the 34th running of the Derby on May 5, 1908 paralleled what we witnessed Saturday; it was a muddy mess after rain pelted Churchill Downs in Louisville. The track was so sloppy that the three-year-old that crossed the finish line in first place, a longshot by the name of Stone Street, had a winning time of 2:15.20, the slowest Derby ever at 1 ¼ miles. The colt went off at 24-1 and paid $123.60 to win on what was then a $5 minimum bet. It would be the only time Stone Street won a major stakes race, winning a purse of $4,850 for co-owners C.E. “Bud” and John W. Hamilton.
The Associated Press story described the track as “fetlock deep in mud” and that “the finish was never in doubt after the horses had traveled three-fifths of their mucky route.” The AP added that “3,000 people cheered the contestants over their journey.”
It also marked the only Kentucky Derby win in the illustrious riding career of Norwood-born Arthur Pickens, and at the age of 19, he was the youngest jockey in the 20th century to win the Run for the Roses until Kentuckian Steve Cauthen guided Affirmed to the Derby win in 1978 at 18 years old.
Pickens would go on to post 1,055 career victories, including the most prestigious race in Canada, the King’s Plate Stakes in 1916. He also won the Breeders’ Stakes in the same year, and rode winning entries in six other major races over the next six years. Pickens was named to the Jockey Hall of Fame after his career.
The story got even more interesting to this observer when I noticed on Pickens’ Wikipedia page that he and his wife Lillian Webster Pickens lived in Maysville upon his retirement. He passed away on January 16, 1944 after suffering his second heart attack in two days, and is buried in the Maysville Cemetery, alongside his wife.
While perusing the references on his Wiki page, I noticed that on May 4, 2008, a former co-worker at the Ledger Independent, Marla Toncray, wrote a feature article about Pickens and his second cousin, Raymond Davis, who penned a biography entitled Remembering Arthur Pickens that he completed in April, 2008. Hat’s off to Marla for doing a bang-up job with the story, which I found fascinating.
She spoke with Davis, who was 86 years old and living in Rockville, Md. at the time, and his primary regret was not writing the book sooner. Davis, who passed away in 2015, did extensive research into the life of his cousin at the Kentucky Gateway Museum Center in Maysville, at Keeneland’s library in Lexington, and at the Kentucky Derby Museum.
During one of his Maysville visits, Davis learned that Arthur and Lillian lived at 222 Lee Street, and his funeral arrangements were under the direction of Knox Funeral Home. Davis added that Arthur was well-known in Maysville, calling him “a man about town” and he was a member of the Moose Lodge and possibly the Eagles Lodge as well.
Davis’ grandparents raised Arthur in Norwood until he left in his teen years to become a jockey at a New York racing stable. Davis is quoted in the article that “there was raw talent there since he was a child” and Arthur certainly fulfilled that potential. His career spanned 22 years and his obituary cites 1909 as his best riding year when he rode 123 winners out of 601 mounts. In 1916, Pickens rode 110 winners out of 570 mounts.
“As a jockey he has been overlooked. He’s magic in my eyes, and in my mind, he still is,” Davis concluded. “It’s a forgotten name.”
The name Arthur Pickens is not forgotten anymore, thanks to his beloved cousin.
*****
“When you touch the dirt on the track you have the feeling, at that moment, that you are on the center stage of the universe.” – Steve Cauthen, 1978 Triple Crown winning jockey
***** “I tell you that waiting for the Derby to start is the longest day of your life… It’s just a unique time of thrill and tension and worry.” – Penny Chenery, owner of Secretariat, 1973 Triple Crown winner
***** “The proverb says that Providence protects children and idiots. This is really true. I know because I have tested it.” – Mark Twain
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