Murph of the turf

by John Berry

As many of you know, I have had end stage kidney disease for many years now. I am up at 3:30 a.m. three days a week for dialysis and get home by 9 a.m. to plan, interview, and write my Mane Attraction columns.

A few days ago, long-time horseman and great friend Mike Murphy sent me a text and a picture of a guy wearing what looked like a back brace which included a wearable artificial kidney, which would free a patient from dialysis.

When I got Murph’s text, it reminded me of our 42-year friendship, interrupted only by distance for some years as I was forced to move on from my first stint at Pompano Park in the late 1980s.

That friendship was rekindled in person in 2004 when I rejoined PPk in the racing department and become the point man to drum up votes for the ballot measure to authorize casinos in Broward County.

We all know the outcome of that when the groundbreaking took place in 2006, followed by the opening of the casino on April 14, 2007.

Anyhow, Murph and I were on the same track — in fact, two tracks, with The Pomp being one and the other track being on a precarious declining track with our respective kidney situations.

Murph beat the 99-1 odds on any tote board when he received a kidney from his grandson, J. W. (Jacob) Fox. The odds of it being a match were, probably, 1,000,000-1 since Fox is a non-blood grandson from Murph’s wife’s Barbara’s side of the family. But, miraculously, it was a match.

So, Murph got the kidney and I wrote a story about it, finishing it up with the question of whether J. W. would give me his other one, my reasoning being that I knew he had one left.

Well, here it is, five, six, maybe seven years later, and Murph is basking in the sunshine of life and enjoying success on the other track, as well.

Murph has been in the harness racing game for over a half century, living the 5 a.m. to midnight, 17-hour-a-day, shift on many occasions trying to eke out a living in an industry he loves, almost to death.

He’s had some pretty good ones over recent years: Four Socks, Tater Twister, Just For Trix (the only sub-1:50 trotter in 2023 at 1:49.4), Bee Our Honey, and, this semester, Heknowsallthetrix.

Along the way, Homestake, Perrywil, Threewide, Chris’s Express, Carolina Ed, Wildwood Storm, and, to top it off, Blue Newton, a 13-year-old that Murph tried to buy on several occasions at Pocono Downs many years ago, but couldn’t, until he was flagged down while exiting that track with his six-horse van.

“I had a six-horse van,” he said, “and was told I could have [Blue Newton] for $800, but I had no room in the van. So, I threw out my washing machine and hay and made room for him.

“He won 13 races in less than three months. The next day he was on his way to South Carolina to be used in parades.”

Murph and J. W. also teamed up to yank a horse, Feelin Lika Winner, off of a kill truck, rehabbed him and won $24,000 and change in a month before relocating him to his forever home at the Kentucky Horse Park.

Murph’s horse Eagle Ridge gained a bit of fame in 1975, not necessarily because of his speed on the track, but because he was claimed by Annette Funicello of Mouseketeer fame.

But, in these eyes, Top Line Collins was my favorite.

Bred to be a good one, Top Line Collins was a son of Steady Star and Murph entered him in this media event in 1983 at Pompano Park, and I drew him to drive.

Some high-powered personnel had been collared to participate in the event with folk from the Miami Herald and Channel 4 and Ft. Lauderdale News and WIOD Radio among the eight participants.

We all had our managers helping us with instructions to avoid any mishaps and Murph’s wife led me over to the backtrack to get a couple of warmup laps, not sure whether that was for Top Line Collins or me.

Anyhow, I was rubbing shoulders with Billy Haughton, Mickey McNichol, Frank O’Mara, Glen Garnsey, and Clint Galbreath, among others with trackman Ted Malloy there, too, telling me that the track was perfect that night and to “just rate him the best you can.”

Murph told me just to “go down the road” with him and just hang everyone out to dry around the turns.

I remember asking Murph why, if this horse was bred to be a good one, his scorecard read “9 0-0-0” with $335 in bounty?

Murph said that he’d been drawing bad and, under his breath, said, “And he finally drew good, in a media race.”

I had heard that Tony Segreto’s horse, Flying Sails might be the ringer because the track could get some good publicity on Channel 4. That made a lotta sense.

Murph told me to get to the quarter in “32” and half “in 4 or 5” and he’ll be OK.

Well, I got to the quarter in :31.4 and ambled on to the half in 1:05.4.

I was really confident then and, on the backside, here comes Channel 4’s Segreto with Flying Sails.

I was thinking that all I had to do was hang him out to dry like wet laundry around the final bend with a three-quarter time of 1:38.1.

But Segreto went by me like we were standing still, and, in retrospect, we were.

I would up third in the race, and, when Murph met me after the race, he said I did a good job.

Murph has overcome the highest mountains in harness racing, and in life, itself.

By the way, the next morning, I was nearing the Pompano Park track kitchen and saw trackman Malloy holding a broken bit.

He said he found it right around the final bend past the three-quarter mark.

I told him, “That’s where Top Line Collins spit his out.”

MAY THE HORSE BE WITH YOU