As we wait to see if I’ll Have Another takes the Triple Crown, let’s revisit Churchill Downs, the old Louisville Jockey Club. That’s the place where the match race took place between Kentucky horse Ten Broeck and the California horse Mollie McCarty, back in 1878, on the Fourth of July.
They’ve been singing about it since the race happened. Sometimes called “The Racehorse Song” and sometimes called “Molly and Tenbrooks,” it captures the best and the worst of what happens at Churchill Downs. I love Bill Monroe’s version, which, like the best of bluegrass, is bittersweet.
Here are the lyrics, in case you can’t make all of them out:
Run oh Molly run, run oh Molly run
Ten-Brooks gonna beat you to the bright and shining sun
To the bright and shining sun oh Lord
To the bright and shining sun
Ten-Brooks was a big bay horse, he wore a shaggy mane
He run all ’round Memphis, and he beat the Memphis train
Beat the Memphis train oh Lord
Beat the Memphis train
Ten-Brooks said to Molly, what makes your head so red
Running in the hot sun with a fever in my head
Fever in my head oh Lord
Fever in my head
Molly said to Ten-Brooks you’re looking mighty squirrel
Ten-Brooks said to Molly I’m leaving this old world
Leaving this old world oh Lord
Leaving this old world
Out in California where Molly done as she pleased
She come back to old Kentucky, got beat with all ease
Beat with all ease oh Lord
Beat with all ease
The women’s all a-laughing, the children all a-crying
Men all a-hollering old Ten-Brooks a- flying
Old Ten-Brooks a- flying oh Lord
Old Ten-Brooks a- flying
Kiper, Kiper, you’re not riding right
Molly’s a beating old Ten-Brooks clear out of sight
Clear out of sigh oh Lord
Clear out of sight
Kiper, Kiper, Kiper my son
Give old Ten-Brooks the bridle and let old Ten-Brooks run
Let old Ten-Brooks run oh Lord
Let old Ten-Brooks run
Go and catch old Ten-Brooks and hitch him in the shade
We’re gonna bury old Molly in a coffin ready made
In a coffin ready made oh Lord
In a coffin ready made
Before you start crying, the way I did when I first heard this song, you should know that Mollie McCarty was lucky, unlike Eight Belles. She lived five years after the match race that inspired the song, winning race after race, and putting three foals on the ground.
Reflections on Riding 
Oh I love this song! I don’t think its too sad… its when a great horse dies that he/ she can become a legend (silver lining?). thanks for sharing!
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Oh, I like the way you look at it.
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… unlike Ruffian as well. Her breakdown put an end to match races I think. My horse is a grandson of Foolish Pleasure, whose stud career was negatively impacted by that race as well.
Nice version by Mr. Monroe – thanks for sharing.
[btw I left a comment Saturday congratulating you on picking I’ll Have Another – but I called him “Let’s” Have Another. It was late on derby night after having a mint julep or two… ;)]
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I saw that match race and it just broke my heart. My heart and a million others. This world will never again see as magnificent a filly as Ruffian. I stopped following horse racing (for over 25yrs) after she was put down. I just now came across my old scrap book in the attic,filled with brown, crumbling, newspaper clippings of all the race horses I loved and followed. When I met my husbanc, he had owned a Standardbred and he got me involved once again. Now (every year) I bet the Triple Crown and the Breeder’s Cup. The only time I ever won was the year I won all 3 races of the Triple Crown. That was the year I picked Siver Charm to win the Derby and the Preakness, and Touch Gold to win the Belmont. I knew after watching Touch Gold’s incredible drive in the Preakness he would beat Silver Charm with a little more track in the Belmont. Yep, won all 3, but that also was the only year I had no money on any race! LOL!
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I think the memory of Ruffian is why I loved watching Zenyatta so much.
I quit following racing (mostly) after Ruffian died, until Barbaro. Although I really liked Sunday Silence and War Emblem, so I must have watched through my hands now and again. 😉
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That’s funny — I read your comment and didn’t notice that you’d called him by a different name! If I had, I would have done an edit. And I don’t have mint juleps to blame.
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Thank you both for mentioning Ruffian. Eight Belles was on my mind, I think, because I remember my little niece calling me, unable to stop crying, when she broke down, and that’s the reason Eight Belles is the filly I think of first when I think of racehorse tragedies.
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Eight Belle’s breakdown was particularly gruesome. It seems like the fillies/ mares will just keep trying even when mortally injured. Go For Wand was another…
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