James E. Day (born July 7, 1946 in

Thornhill, Ontario Thornhill is a suburban district in the Regional Municipality of York in Ontario, Canada, split between the City of Vaughan (its western portion) and the City of Markham (its eastern portion), with Yonge Street forming the municipal boundary. T ...

) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or Riding in British English) Examples of this are: * Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes i ...

show jumping championJim Day
, ''Sports Reference LLC'', retrieved January 27, 2010. and

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 ...

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 ...

. Day first joined the

Canadian Equestrian Team The Canadian Equestrian Team or CET (french: Équipe équestre canadienne or ''EEC'') collectively describes the athletes that represent Canada at the highest levels of international equestrian competition, specifically at the World Championship, ...

in 1964, and in 1966 tied the record high jump of 7 feet 1 inch at the National Horse Show in New York. Day took gold in individual jumping at the 1967 Pan American Games.Honored Members - James Day
''Canadian Sports Hall of Fame'', retrieved January 27, 2010. Day was named Canada's Horseman of the Year three years running in 1966 through 1968. In 1968, he was a member of Canada's gold-medal equestrian team at the Summer Olympics in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

. At 22 years of age, Day was the youngest member of the show jumping team. In the 1972 Olympics in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

he finished 4th individually, and a team 6th. In the 1976 Summer Olympics he competed in both the show jumping and

three-day eventing Eventing (also known as three day eventing or horse trials) is an equestrian event where a single horse and rider combine and compete against other competitors across the three disciplines of dressage, cross-country, and show jumping. This ...

competitions, coming in 15th individually and 5th team in the show jumping, and not finishing the three-day eventing competition, although the Canadian team came in 6th. In 1971, Day took a job training

race horse Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic pr ...

s for Ernie Samuel, who had recently founded Sam-Son Farm. Day assisted in building the operation into a top

racing and breeding facility over the next 25 years. His training successes include two American

Eclipse Award The Eclipse Award is an American Thoroughbred horse racing award named after the 18th-century British racehorse and sire, Eclipse. An Eclipse Award Trophy is presented to the winner in each division that is made by a few small selected American ...

s, five

Canadian Horse of the Year The Canadian Horse of the Year is a thoroughbred horse racing honour given annually since 1951 by the Jockey Club of Canada. It is the most prestigious honour in Canadian thoroughbred horse racing. Part of the Sovereign Awards program since 1975, ...

honors, two

Queen's Plate The King's Plate (known as the Queen's Plate between 1860 to 1901 and 1952 to 2022) is Canada's oldest Thoroughbred horse race, having been founded in 1860. It is also the oldest continuously run race in North America. It is run at a distance of ...

awards, the Breeders' Cup Distaff and the Canadian Triple Crown in 1991. Day was voted Canada's top trainer on four occasions. In 1995, Day left the employ of Sam-Son Farm and continued training for others. In 1997 he became only the third trainer to ever win Arlington Park's Mid-America Triple. His horse Honor Glide won the three races made up of the

Arlington Classic Stakes The Arlington Classic Stakes is a Grade III American Thoroughbred horse race for three year old horses over a distance of miles on the turf held annually in late May at Arlington Park race track near Chicago. History The event was inaugurated ...

in late June, the

American Derby The American Derby is a Thoroughbred horse race in the United States run annually at Arlington Park in Arlington Heights, Illinois. The inaugural American Derby was held at Chicago's old Washington Park Race Track on the city's South Side and ra ...

in July, and the Secretariat Stakes in August. Jim Day was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 1968, the

Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame The Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame is an honour roll of the top Canadian Olympic athletes, teams, coaches, and builders (officials, administrators, and volunteers). It was established in 1949. Selections are made by a committee appointed by the Cana ...

in 1971, and the

Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame The Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame was established in 1976 to honour those who have made a significant contribution to the sport of harness and Thoroughbred horse racing in Canada. It is located at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario. The ...

in 2006.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Day, Jim 1946 births Living people Animal sportspeople from Ontario Canadian show jumping riders Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductees Canadian horse trainers Olympic equestrians of Canada Canadian male equestrians Equestrians at the 1968 Summer Olympics Equestrians at the 1972 Summer Olympics Equestrians at the 1976 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Canada People from Thornhill, Ontario Olympic medalists in equestrian Medalists at the 1968 Summer Olympics Pan American Games gold medalists for Canada Pan American Games bronze medalists for Canada Pan American Games medalists in equestrian Equestrians at the 1967 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1967 Pan American Games