James Edward "Sunny Jim" Fitzsimmons (July 23, 1874 – March 11, 1966) was a
Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are ...
racehorse trainer
A horse trainer is a person who tends to horses and teaches them different disciplines. Some of the responsibilities trainers have are caring for the animals' physical needs, as well as teaching them submissive behaviors and/or coaching them for e ...
.
Early life
Born in
Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn
Sheepshead Bay is a neighborhood in southern Brooklyn, New York City. It is bounded by Ocean Parkway to the west; Avenue T and Kings Highway to the north; Nostrand Avenue and Gerritsen Avenue to the east; and the Atlantic Ocean to the south. ...
in 1874, Fitzsimmons began his career in 1885 working at a racetrack as a stable boy. After nearly ten less-than-successful years as a thoroughbred
jockey, he became too heavy for that job and took up the training of horses. He went on to have one of the most successful careers in racing history, spanning seventy years from 1894 to 1963 with 2,275 race wins.
Professional career
Known as both "Sunny Jim" and as "Mr. Fitz", he trained three
Kentucky Derby
The Kentucky Derby is a horse race held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, almost always on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The competition is a Grade I stakes race for three-yea ...
winners, four
Preakness Stakes
The Preakness Stakes is an American thoroughbred horse race held on Armed Forces Day which is also the third Saturday in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. It is a Grade I race run over a distance of 9.5 furlongs ...
winners, and six
Belmont Stakes winners. Included were two
U.S. Triple Crown champions:
Gallant Fox
Gallant Fox (March 23, 1927 – November 13, 1954) was a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who is the second winner of the American Triple Crown.
In a racing career which lasted from 1929 to 1930, Gallant Fox won 11 of his 17 races includ ...
in 1930 and his son
Omaha in 1935. Fitzsimmons' total of thirteen
Classic
A classic is an outstanding example of a particular style; something of lasting worth or with a timeless quality; of the first or highest quality, class, or rank – something that exemplifies its class. The word can be an adjective (a '' ...
wins was broken by
D. Wayne Lukas in
2013
File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment ...
. Five times, Fitzsimmons was the season's top money-winning trainer.
In 1923, Fitzsimmons took over training at
Belair Stud
Belair Stud was an American thoroughbred horse racing stable and breeding farm founded by Provincial Governor of Maryland Samuel Ogle in 1747 in Collington, Prince George's County, Maryland, in Colonial America.
Colonial period
Queen Mab a ...
. Following the death of
William Woodward, Jr., Belair's owner, in 1955 and the dispersal of its stock, Fitzsimmons continued to train for the
Wheatley Stable
Wheatley Stable was the ''nom de course '' for the thoroughbred horse racing partnership formed by Gladys Mills Phipps and her brother, Ogden Livingston Mills. The horses were raised at Claiborne Farm near Paris, Kentucky.
History
Over the ye ...
, where he conditioned Preakness winner and 1957
American Horse of the Year
The American Award for Horse of the Year, one of the Eclipse Awards, is the highest honor given in American thoroughbred horse racing. Because Thoroughbred horse racing in the United States has no governing body to sanction the various awards, "Hor ...
Bold Ruler
Bold Ruler (April 6, 1954 – July 11, 1971) was an American Thoroughbred Hall of Fame racehorse who was the 1957 Horse of the Year. This following a three-year-old campaign that included wins in the Preakness Stakes and Trenton Handicap, in whic ...
, who sired
Secretariat
Secretariat may refer to:
* Secretariat (administrative office)
* Secretariat (horse)
Secretariat (March 30, 1970 – October 4, 1989), also known as Big Red, was a champion American thoroughbred racehorse who is the ninth winner of the Ameri ...
.
Accolades
In recognition of his accomplishments, in 1958 Fitzsimmons was inducted in the
National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame was founded in 1950 in Saratoga Springs, New York, to honor the achievements of American Thoroughbred race horses, jockeys, and trainers. In 1955, the museum moved to its current location on Union Av ...
.
National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame Fitzsimmons bio
Retrieved July 3, 2018
The National Turf Writers Association
The National Turf Writers Association (NTWA) is an American association of journalists, columnists and other writers involved with reporting on the horse racing industry. The organization was founded by prominent sports writer Joe Hirsch who serve ...
created an award in his name called the "Mr. Fitz Award" to honor a member of the horse racing fraternity each year.
Death
Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons died in 1966 in Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at th ...
. He is buried in the Holy Cross Cemetery, Brooklyn
Holy Cross Cemetery, located at 3620 Tilden Avenue in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York City, is an American Roman Catholic cemetery operated by the Diocese of Brooklyn.
Notable burials
*Jean H. Norris - Lawyer and first female magistrate of N ...
.
Selected wins
Selected other major stakes race wins:
* Saratoga Cup: 10
*Dwyer Stakes
The Dwyer Stakes is an American Grade III stakes race for three-year-old thoroughbred racehorses held annually at Belmont Park racetrack in Elmont, Long Island, New York. Run in early July, it is open to three-year-old horses and is raced over a ...
: 9
*Lawrence Realization
The Lawrence Realization Stakes was an American horse race first run on the turf in 1889. The race, for three-year-old Thoroughbred colts, geldings and fillies, was last run in 2005.
History
Inaugurated at the Sheepshead Bay Race Track at Graves ...
: 8
*Alabama Stakes
The Alabama Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race open to three-year-old fillies. Inaugurated in 1872, the Grade I race is run over a distance of one and one-quarter miles on the dirt track at Saratoga Race Course. Held in mid August, it cu ...
: 8
*Suburban Handicap
The Suburban Stakes is an American Grade II Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. Open to horses age three and older, it is now run at the mile distance on dirt for a $700,000 purse.
Named after the City and Su ...
: 5
*Withers Stakes
The Withers Stakes is a Grade III American Thoroughbred horse race for three years old horses over the distance of miles on the dirt scheduled annually in February at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, New York. The event currently carries a purse o ...
: 4
References
Sources
* Breslin, Jimmy '' Sunny Jim: The life of America's most beloved horseman, James Fitzsimmons'' (1962) Doubleday & Company, Inc.
* Bowen, Edward L. '' Masters of the Turf: Ten Trainers Who Dominated Horse Racing's Golden Age'' (2007) Eclipse Press
Blood-Horse Publications is an American multimedia publishing house focused on horse-related magazines headquartered in Lexington, Kentucky. It began in 1916 through its flagship magazine, ''The Blood-Horse''. From 1961 to 2015, Blood-Horse Public ...
()
James Fitzsimmons at the United States' National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzsimmons, James E.
1874 births
1966 deaths
American horse trainers
Burials at Holy Cross Cemetery, Brooklyn
Fitzsimmons, Sun
United States Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame inductees