Horses and humans were waiting in the paddock before the fifth race on closing day, Oct. 28, at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington. The equine athletes took brisk laps around the saddling area, led by grooms, trainers and assistants, as their owners and others looked on from afar at the Kentucky track.

The level of dress found in the paddock varied, from smartly checkered blue suits to a black Ohio State football jersey. The Buckeyes wouldn’t be the only high-level college football team represented at Keeneland, as the jockeys marched in toward their respective mounts.

Mitchell Murrill stood chatting near a tree in the paddock, about to ride a four-year-old gelding named Fleet of Hoof in the 1 1/16-mile allowance race on the turf course. He was clad in black boots and white jockey silks emblazoned with a blue circled “R” for owner Rick L. Olson as he mounted up.

It was a gray day in Lexington, spitting rain at times, but was dry and around 70 degrees as Murrill rode the horse out of the paddock and through the brick-floor tunnel toward the track. It wouldn’t be Fleet of Hoof’s day, as the overmatched Iowa-bred gelding ran out of steam at the far turn and dropped to the back of the pack in front of a packed house at Keeneland.

But from behind as he moved toward the track, a letter could be spotted on the back of Murrill’s white helmet. Just above his name, embroidered in the same crimson, was an Alabama “A”.

‘Hopping on and getting after it’

Murrill grew up near Mobile, in the “Semmes, Wilmer area.” He played high school soccer and ran cross country at Mary Montgomery.

When he was in high school, one of his friends had an idea for how Murrill could earn some money. The friend was working for a quarter-horse trainer in the area, breaking the young horses and helping prepare them for the racetrack, and wanted Murrill to come help out.

“Knowing nothing about it, I was just kind of hopping on and getting after it,” Murrill said. “But he helped me get started.”

Murrill took to the work and began spending his high school summers at the tracks in Louisiana. As he reached early adulthood, he decided to make a full go of it, starting in 2013.

He started with the quarter-horses, which run shorter distances faster, often for lower purses, and ran 41 races with one win, but quickly switched over to the thoroughbreds

“Kind of free,” Murrill said of starting out the Louisiana circuit, which includes Fair Grounds, Delta Downs and Evangeline Downs, so young. “Young and dumb, but we had fun.”

In his early days as an apprentice jockey, which meant getting to carry less weight than more experienced riders, Murrill met trainer Mike Stidham. Stidham had saddled his first winner as a trainer in 1979, and had trained multiple graded stakes winners by the time he connected with the young Alabama native, who he took a liking to.

Stidham’s assistant, Hilary Pridham, played a key role in Murrill’s early development.

“(Pridham) taught him as far back as where the polls are on the racetrack, the quarter-poll, eighth poll, whatever,” Stidham said. “And tried to help him learn how fast he was going on a horse, how fast or slow. Because the workouts in the morning are so important for the preparation for racing and a jockey has to know if he’s going an eighth of a mile in 12 (seconds) or an eighth of a mile in 15.”

The young Murrill had raw talent and impressed Stidham with his work ethic. He earned his first thoroughbred victory in May of 2014 at Evangeline Downs, aboard a filly named Golden Barbara.

He was also quite likable, a talent for jockeys, who are largely dependent on the quality of the horses they ride, and thus have to compete for the top mounts. The trait makes things easier for his agent, Tim Hanisch, who met Murrill through the Stidham barn.

“He was getting some longer-odds horses to run well,” Hansich said. “Could finish well on a horse for a bug (apprentice) rider.”

In 2015, it was time for Murrill to make a move. He would continue to ride at Fair Grounds during the winters, but would take his talents to Arlington Park in the Chicago suburbs, during the warmer months.

‘He’s taking it to that next level’

The fit was perfect at Arlington, a track currently being torn down after being sold by Churchill Downs Inc. to the NFL’s Chicago Bears. Stidham had rides for him there, as did other trainers.

“That’s where he kind of came of age,” Stidham said. “He always rode in the winter in New Orleans at Fair Grounds, but Arlington was where he really started to shine and really started doing his best work.”

Murrill finished second in the Arlington jockey standings in 2015, with 72 victories. He repeated the feat in 2016, 2018 and 2019.

The success helped build his reputation.

“It helped a younger rider,” Hanisch said. “People see you winning races so it gives you a chance to ride some new opportunities for some other barns that maybe you wouldn’t have if he hadn’t gone.”

One such barn was Chris Hartman’s. Hartman knew Hanisch dating back to the agent’s days as an entry clerk at Prairie Meadows in Altoona, Iowa.

The trainer and jockey got connected and Murrill began to ride most of Hartman’s Arlington entries. Their partnership has continued to flourish.

“He’s a good guy,” Hartman said. “Really just as a person. Entertaining little guy off the racetrack and I think everybody likes him.”

Before Churchill Downs’ 2020 spring meet, Murrill made the big jump. He moved his tack to the Kentucky circuit.

Being a jockey in the Bluegrass State isn’t easy. The purses attract some of the best in the game, but with Arlington’s future in jeopardy, plus the COVID-19 pandemic raging, it was Murrill’s time to try his luck.

“I wanted to try and get my feet wet here first,” the jockey said. “Start building relationships and business to make my business work.”

The move hasn’t been easy. Jockeys are only as good as the horses they ride, and getting the top talent in a state like Kentucky takes time and work.

“We have the best of the best in the country here,” Murrill said. “It’s definitely a change from when I was winning, being one of the top jockeys at Arlington and New Orleans, the Fair Grounds to now, just kind of mid-level. But as anybody knows it, the horse is the engine. You can go as good as what’s underneath you.”

That’s not to say Murrill hasn’t found any success in Kentucky. His partnership with Hartman has continued to work well, and he had his best years by earnings in 2021 and 2022.

He’s also built up his talent. Murrill’s reputation comes in part from his ability to get horses out of the gate in good position, something that trainers surmised might have been a carryover from his quarter-horse days, where the break is one of the most important elements of a race.

His ability to chat up anyone he meets at the track helps too, as does his desire to improve. Early on, Hartman said he gave Murrill “a good chewing” over the youngster’s work habits, but since then, he’s been nothing but impressed.

“Hard working little feller,” the trainer said. “He’s always there.”

In June of last year, he won his 1,000th career race.

“Once he got the hang of it, he picked it up and had the right idea of what he needed to do to be successful,” Stidham said. “And he’s taking it to that next level. And believe me, when you can compete on the Kentucky circuit at Churchill Downs and Keeneland, you’ve made it to the top level in racing, and that’s what he’s done.”

‘A Roll Tider’

Things have changed for Murrill since he left Alabama to pursue his racing dream as an 18-year-old. He’s 29 now, and he and his wife Mallorie, who reside in Louisville, welcomed their first baby in August.

“He’s actually sleeping really well now,” Murrill said of his son Hayden. “First three weeks was rough. But the little man, he’s doing good and my wife is doing an awesome job taking care of him while I’m out working.”

One thing that hasn’t changed is his love for the Crimson Tide. He grew up in a south Alabama family that fell firmly on UA’s side of the Iron Bowl rivalry.

He demonstrates the fandom at the track, both on his helmet and an Alabama saddle.

“He’s a Roll Tider through and through,” Hartman said.

The fandom has subjected Murrill to some good-natured ribbing from his fellow horsemen. Racing is full of Kentucky fans throughout the industry, and riding in Louisiana puts him in contact with plenty of LSU faithful as well.

After the Tigers beat the Tide last year, he heard about his racetrack friends.

“We were in New Orleans and the all the boys down there, they were just giving me hell,” Murrill said. “But it was good, because we can put a hurting on them as well.”

Catching Alabama games can be tough for Murrill, who spends most Saturdays riding in races. He’s been to one game in Tuscaloosa, watching the Tide beat Ole Miss while he served a suspension one season, but usually has to tune in on his iPad.

He likely won’t be able to catch Alabama’s Saturday visit to Kentucky either, as he’ll be racing at Churchill Downs before moving down to New Orleans to run at Fair Grounds for the winter.

“I’ll probably just miss them as they get up here to play,” Murrill said. “If I can make it happen, I will.”