Allen Jerkens took out his coach’s license as quickly as he turned 21, and he solely waited that lengthy as a result of his father forbid him to take action any sooner. He loved stable success virtually from the very starting and gained his first stakes race in 1955 with a horse named Warfare Command, whom Jerkens had claimed for $8,000. Seven years later, he agreed to grow to be the non-public coach for Jack Dreyfus Jr.’s Hobeau Farm. Although Hobeau Farm didn’t at all times deal in probably the most trendy of pedigrees, it did present Jerkens with quantity. And Jerkens definitely had a knack for getting probably the most out of his horses.
Throughout these affluent Hobeau Farm years, Jerkens turned referred to as “The Big Killer,” although he by no means a lot cared for that moniker. Maybe that’s as a result of the nickname doesn’t do justice to a outstanding profession that lasted greater than 65 years.
Emma’s Encore gained the Grade 1 Prioress Stakes in 2012 at Saratoga Race Course, and he or she was simply the final of a protracted line of memorable Jerkens’ trainees that included Corridor of Famer Sky Magnificence (champion older feminine of 1994), Beau Purple, Onion, Show Out, Delicate Prince, Satan His Due, Elegant Mirage, Kelly Kip, Duck Dance, Virginia Rapids, Wagon Restrict, and so many extra.
Make no mistake, although, Jerkens’s expenses through the years vanquished various foes that appeared invincible. In 1962-’63, he despatched out Beau Purple to defeat the redoubtable Kelso three completely different occasions — within the 1962 Suburban Handicap, the 1962 Man o’ Warfare, and the 1963 Widener Handicap. In 1963, Pocosaba took the measure of three-time champion Cicada. And in 1967, the Jerkens-trained Good-looking Boy upset Buckpasser within the Brooklyn Handicap.
All the above was a mere heat up for 1973, when the Jerkens barn conquered the mighty Secretariat not as soon as however twice. Onion shocked the world in Saratoga’s Whitney Handicap when he defeated Huge Purple in that one’s second race after his incomparable 31-length Belmont Stakes rating. (Jerkens almost upset one other freshly-minted Triple Crown winner in 1978 when Affirmed wanted your complete Saratoga stretch to run down Delicate Prince by a half-length within the Jim Dandy Stakes.) And later in 1973, within the Woodward Handicap, it was Show Out’s flip to topple Secretariat, the horse that many take into account to be the best of all time. With these victories nonetheless vivid within the minds of voters, Jerkens was inducted into the Corridor of Fame in 1975. At age 45, he was, on the time, the youngest flat coach ever to be honored with enshrinement.
Whereas an enormous killer he could have been, Jerkens at all times most well-liked his “different” nickname, “The Chief.” And that deal with was fully becoming as a result of, regardless of a scarcity of bluster, Jerkens at all times appeared just like the man accountable for issues. Legendary are the Belmont backstretch contact soccer video games of the Nineteen Eighties and Nineteen Nineties when Jerkens would play quarterback — for each groups.
He was a kind of uncommon individuals who at all times got here off as the good man within the room, although impressing individuals was the very last thing on his thoughts. In 2001 on the Nationwide Turf Writers Affiliation awards dinner, Jerkens acquired the Mr. Fitz Award for typifying the spirit of horse racing. At a operate infamous for long-winded acceptance speeches, Jerkens made his technique to the rostrum and gave the next tackle, reprinted right here in its entirety:
“Thanks very a lot.”
The assembled turf writers instantly rose to their toes as one and gave their taciturn honoree what was by far the loudest ovation of the evening. The Chief, certainly.
Enjoyable Info
- His father was an Austrian cavalry captain.
- Initially hoped to be a jockey.
- Saddled his first winner on July 4, 1950 with Populace at Aqueduct.
- In 1975, at age 45, he turned the youngest flat-racing coach inducted into the Racing Corridor of Fame. (This document was later bested, by three months, by Invoice Mott in 1998.)
- Gained Eclipse Award as excellent coach in 1973.
- Was main coach in New York 4 occasions between 1957 and 1969 (1957, 1962, 1966, 1969), then scored his fifth New York coaching title 29 years later in 1998.
- Sired two coaching sons: Steven Jerkens and Jimmy Jerkens. Jimmy completed one feat his father was unable to handle: successful a Breeders’ Cup race. Jimmy did the trick twice—with Artie Schiller within the 2005 Breeders’ Cup Mile and Corinthian within the 2007 Breeders’ Cup Grime Mile.
- The Grade 1 King’s Bishop was renamed in honor of Jerkens after his demise in 2015. It’s now the H. Allen Jerkens Memorial Stakes.
