Samples, John
(born: 1858 - died: June 4, 1912)John Samples, born in Kentucky, was a competing jockey. He rode the horse Wanderer for Rice and McCormack, and the horse Longfellow for John Harper in Midway, KY. He won the Mammoth Cup at Long Branch in 1871 aboard Longfellow. He also rode the horse Ten Broeck.
Samples gave up being a jockey because of his weight and became a police officer in Cincinnati, OH, where he was an officer for 23 years.
John and Kate (or Katherine) Samples are listed in the 1900 U.S. Federal Census; the couple lived on Willow Street in Cincinnati; they had married in 1890. According to Ohio Death Records, John Sample[s] died June 4, 1912, in Cincinnati, OH.
For more see John Samples death notice in the Daily Racing Form, 6/06/1912, p. 1; "Are now few Negro jockeys," The Milford Mail, 8/31/1905, p. 3; "A Great race recalled," The Mt. Sterling Advocate, 09/25/1894, p.3; Chris Hanlin, "Gravesite of John Samples," a Cincinnati Sites & Stories webpage.