William B. Finnegan (September 19, 1890 - October 18, 1970) was an American
Thoroughbred horse racing trainer.
A native of
New York City, Finnegan spent more than fifty years as a trainer primarily on the
West Coast of the United States. During his career he conditioned horses for major stable owners such as
Vera S. Bragg, movie mogul
Louis B. Mayer,
Walter P. Chrysler Jr.,
Edward S. Moore's Circle M Ranch stable,
George A. Pope, Jr.'s El Peco Ranch, and
Neil S. McCarthy
Neil Steere McCarthy (May 6, 1888 – July 25, 1972) was an American corporate and film industry lawyer, and a Thoroughbred racehorse owner-breeder.
Biography
A third-generation Los Angeles native, he graduated from the University of Michigan ...
who would name one of his horses in his honor.
Following its opening in December 1929, Finnegan was racing at
Agua Caliente Racetrack in
Tijuana,
Mexico.
Racing in California, where he would make his home in
Arcadia
Arcadia may refer to:
Places Australia
* Arcadia, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney
* Arcadia, Queensland
* Arcadia, Victoria
Greece
* Arcadia (region), a region in the central Peloponnese
* Arcadia (regional unit), a modern administrative un ...
near
Santa Anita Park, Finnegan won the 1939
Hollywood Derby
The Hollywood Derby is a Grade I American Thoroughbred horse race held annually in late November/early December. Now held at Del Mar racetrack in San Diego, California, until 2014 it was held at Hollywood Park Racetrack in Inglewood, California. T ...
with Shining One who equalled the
Hollywood Park track record.
In 1940, he took over as the trainer of
Big Pebble
{{Infobox racehorse
, horsename = Big Pebble
, image =
, caption =
, sire = Black Servant
, grandsire = Black Toney
, dam = Beach Talk
, damsire = Sundridge
, sex = Stallion
, foaled = 1936
, country = United States
, colour = Bay ...
after the four-year-old was purchased by client, Edward S. Moore. Raced by his former owner at age two and three, Big Pebble showed little and had even been used as a lead pony. Under Finnegan in 1941, Big Pebble blossomed into the best older horse in the United States. En route to being named
American Champion Older Male Horse The title of American Champion Older Dirt Male Horse is an American Thoroughbred horse racing honor awarded annually to a stallion or gelding, four years old and up, for performances on dirt and main track racing surfaces. In 1971, it became part of ...
, Big Pebble's wins included the most important and richest race in
Florida, the
Widener Challenge Cup at
Hialeah Park Race Track and the prestigious
Hollywood Gold Cup
The Hollywood Gold Cup Stakes is a Grade I American thoroughbred horse race for horses age three and older over a distance of miles on the dirt held at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California in May. The race currently offers a purse of $400,000. ...
at California's
Hollywood Park Racetrack.
In October 1951, that year's
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 ...
winner
Count Turf was sent to Bill Finnegan to race in California but met with little success.
Thirteen years late, Finnegan would have the
betting favorite going into the 1964
U.S. Triple Crown series with George A. Pope, Jr.'s colt,
Hill Rise. The winner of eight straight races, including the
Santa Anita Derby by six
lengths
Length is a measure of distance. In the International System of Quantities, length is a quantity with dimension distance. In most systems of measurement a base unit for length is chosen, from which all other units are derived. In the Intern ...
in record time and the
Derby Trial by more than two lengths, Hill Rise ran second to
Northern Dancer in the Kentucky Derby and third to him in the
Preakness Stakes. The following year Hill Rise won several important races for Finnegan including the
Man o' War Stakes,
San Fernando Stakes and
Santa Anita Handicap and at age five in 1966, the
San Antonio Handicap
The San Antonio Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race held at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. Raced on the dirt, it is for horses age three and older. In 2017, the distance was shortened from miles to miles. The race was origina ...
.
William Finnegan continued to train horses until his death in 1970 at age eighty. He is buried in the
Live Oak Memorial Park Cemetery in
Monrovia, California.
''The Miami News'' - October 19, 1970 obituary
/ref>
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Finnegan, William B.
1890 births
1970 deaths
American horse trainers
Sportspeople from New York City
Sportspeople from Arcadia, California