Horace A. "Jimmy" Jones (November 24, 1906 – September 2, 2001) was an American
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 c ...
horse 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 ...
.
The son of
Hall of Fame
A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...
horse trainer Ben A. Jones, Jimmy Jones was born in
Parnell, Missouri
Parnell is a city in northeast Nodaway County, Missouri, United States, near the Platte River. The population was 191 at the 2010 Census. It was home to the father-son horse trainers Ben and Jimmy Jones, whose horses won eight Kentucky Derbies a ...
. Raised around horses from infancy, he learned how to train them from his father while working with him at
Woolford Farm
Woolford Farm raised thoroughbred race horses in eastern Kansas, in what is now the city of Prairie Village, a suburb of Kansas City. The was owned by Herbert M. Woolf. Trainer Ben A. Jones worked there before going to Calumet Farm in Lexin ...
in
Prairie Village, Kansas
Prairie Village is a city in Johnson County, Kansas, United States. It is part of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 22,957.
History
After the successful development of the Country Cl ...
from 1931 to 1939, after which his father signed on as the head trainer at Calumet Farm in
Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, Fayette County. By population, it is the List of cities in Kentucky, second-largest city in Kentucky and List of United States cities by popul ...
. There, Jimmy worked as his father's assistant but his career was interrupted when he joined the
United States military
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. After the war ended he returned to training horses, and in 1948 took over as head trainer from his father, who was appointed Calumet Farm's general manager.
In 1948 Jimmy Jones stepped aside as the trainer of record for
Citation
A citation is a reference to a source. More precisely, a citation is an abbreviated alphanumeric expression embedded in the body of an intellectual work that denotes an entry in the bibliographic references section of the work for the purpose of ...
to allow his father to be officially designated as the trainer for the
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-year ...
. Ben Jones wanted the opportunity to equal the record of Herbert J. "Derby Dick" Thompson, who had trained four Derby winners. Citation won the race. Ben Jones later returned to training and won the Derby two more times. Jimmy Jones was named Citation's trainer for the
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 () on ...
and the
Belmont Stakes
The Belmont Stakes is an American Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds run at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is run over 1.5 miles (2,400 m). Colts and geldings carry a weight of ; fillies carry . The race, nicknamed Th ...
. Citation became the Jones family's second U.S. Triple Crown winner. In 1957, Jimmy Jones won his first "official" Kentucky Derby with
Iron Liege
Iron Liege (March 11, 1954 – December 14, 1972) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 1957 Kentucky Derby.
Background
Iron Liege was a bay horse bred and owned by Calumet Farm. He was sired by Calumet's leading ...
, and claimed victory again the next year with future Hall of Fame colt
Tim Tam
Tim Tam is a brand of chocolate biscuit introduced by the Australian biscuit company Arnott's in 1964. It consists of two malted biscuits separated by a light hard
chocolate cream filling and coated in a thin layer of textured chocolate.
Hi ...
, who also won the Preakness. Many fans and race experts believe Tim Tam would have won the Triple Crown had he not broken a
sesamoid bone
In anatomy, a sesamoid bone () is a bone embedded within a tendon or a muscle. Its name is derived from the Arabic word for ' sesame seed', indicating the small size of most sesamoids. Often, these bones form in response to strain, or can be pres ...
in his right foreleg coming down the home stretch in the Belmont Stakes, where he finished second.
As head trainer for Calumet Farm, Jimmy Jones trained seven champion horses and won 54 stakes races. In addition to his two Derby wins, he won four Preakness Stakes and one Belmont Stakes. He was the leading trainer in the United States five times (1947, 1948, 1949, 1957, 1961) and was the first trainer to earn more than $1 million in purses in a single season. In 1959, he followed his father as an inductee into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. He retired from training in 1964 to take over as the Director of Racing at
Monmouth Park Racetrack
Monmouth Park Racetrack is an American race track for thoroughbred horse racing in Oceanport, New Jersey, United States. It is owned by the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority and is operated under a five-year lease as a partnership with ...
in
Oceanport, New Jersey
Oceanport is a borough in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States census, the borough's population was 5,832,Maryville. He bequeathed several million dollars to the hospital, where a new patient wing was erected with several pieces of memorabilia put on display in his memory.
Kentucky Derby Record
† - While Jimmy Jones was the trainer of Citation, he allowed his father Ben Jones to be listed as the trainer in the Kentucky Derby. He took over Citation's training and won the Preakness and Belmont.
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 Publica ...