James Edward "Sunny Jim" Fitzsimmons (July 23, 1874 – March 11, 1966) was a Thoroughbred racehorse trainer.

Early life

Born in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn 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

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, 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-year ...

winners, four Preakness Stakes winners, and six

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 ...

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

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in 1935. Fitzsimmons' total of thirteen Classic wins was broken by

D. Wayne Lukas Darrell Wayne Lukas (born September 2, 1935 in Antigo, Wisconsin) is an American horse trainer and a U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee. He has won twenty Breeders' Cup races, received five Eclipse Awards for his accomplishments, and his horses ha ...

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. Five times, Fitzsimmons was the season's top money-winning trainer. In 1923, Fitzsimmons took over training at Belair Stud. Following the death of

William Woodward, Jr. William Woodward Jr. (June 12, 1920 – October 31, 1955) was the heir to the Hanover National Bank fortune (later Manufacturer's Hanover), the Belair Estate and stud farm and legacy, and a leading figure in racing circles before he was s ...

, Belair's owner, in 1955 and the dispersal of its stock, Fitzsimmons continued to train for the

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, 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 National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, Hall of Fame racehorse who was the 1957 American Horse of the Year, Horse of the Year. This following a three-year-old campaign t ...

, who sired Secretariat.

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 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. He is buried in the Holy Cross Cemetery, Brooklyn.

Selected wins

Selected other major stakes race wins: * Saratoga Cup: 10 * Dwyer Stakes: 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: 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: 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 Publica ...

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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