James Gordon Rowe Jr. (June 16, 1889 – October 21, 1931) 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 ...

Biography

The son of U.S. Hall of Fame trainer

James G. Rowe Sr. James Gordon Rowe Sr. (1857 – August 2, 1929) was an American jockey and horse trainer elected to the Hall of Fame for Thoroughbred Horse racing. He won the Belmont Stakes twice as a jockey and 8 times as a trainer. He had 34 champion hors ...

, he initially planned to become a

mechanical engineer Mechanical may refer to: Machine * Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement * Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations of ...

and graduated from Fordham and

Cornell Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

universities. However, in 1913 he went to work for his father as an assistant and later became an assistant to Scott Harlan at Helen Hay Whitney's

Greentree Stable Greentree Stable, in Red Bank, New Jersey, was a major American thoroughbred horse racing stable and breeding farm established in 1914 by Payne Whitney of the Whitney family of New York City. Payne Whitney operated a horse farm and stable at Sar ...

where by the mid-1920s he had several horses under his exclusive conditioning. In 1929, he took over from his father as head trainer for Harry Payne Whitney's Brookdale Farm. After Whitney died, James Rowe Jr. returned to work for Greentree Stable in the latter part of 1930, replacing Thomas W. Murphy.

Triple Crown wins

Rowe Jr. won all three of the U.S. Triple Crown races. He trained the 1928

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 ...

winner Victorian, and in 1929 was the Leading trainer in the United States by earnings with $314,881 in purse money. Rowe Jr.'s most famous horse was the Hall of Fame inductee

Twenty Grand Twenty Grand (1928–1948) was an American thoroughbred race horse. Owned and bred by Helen Hay Whitney's Greentree Stable, Twenty Grand was a bay colt by St. Germans out of Bonus. Racing career Trained at age three by James G. Rowe, Jr. ...

with which he won the other two Triple Crown races in 1931 and earned

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 ...

honors. Twenty Grand won 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 ...

, was second in the Preakness which was run before the Derby that year, and won 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 ...

. Rowe Jr. lived for only a few months after these victories, dying at age 42 of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

in October of that year. He was buried next to his father in

Red Bank, New Jersey Red Bank is a borough in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. Incorporated in 1908, the community is on the Navesink River, the area's original transportation route to the ocean and other ports. Red Bank is in the New York Metropolitan A ...

. One of five children, his brother, Belmont A. Rowe, who was also involved in horse racing, died at a young age in 1927.''Boston Daily Globe'' - April 20, 1927
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rowe, James G. Jr. 1889 births 1931 deaths Fordham University alumni Cornell University alumni American horse trainers