Boat Winnor $25000 Added MONMOUTH HANDICAP July 22
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Br. c. (111,.11 3) by lloliorJolls· Boat Winnor $25,000 added MONMOUTH HANDICAP July 22, 1950.On Mile and a Quarter THIS RACE COURSE IS LICENSED FOR 1951 BY THE NEW JERSEY RACING COMMiSSION AND OPERATES UNDER ITS REGULATION'S New Jersey Racing Commission HUGH L. MEHORTER, Chairman WILLIAM V. GRIFFIN HUGH J. STRONG THOMAS J. BfWGAN CHARLES J. SHEEHAN, Secretary Monmouth Park Jockey Club Officer! AMORY L. HASKELL President and Chairman REEVE SCHLEY EWGE!NEL. NORTON Vice C.hairman Vice President TOWNSEND B. MARTIN PHILIP H. ISELIN Setretary Treasurer JAMES COX BRADY EUGENE L. NORTON JOI:fll! W. FLOCK JOSEPHM. ROEBLING EVAIIIDER B. SCHLEY ~~~'R~' tR~k~~~·~~YSEN REEVE S.cHLEY PHILIP H. ISELIN WILLIAM A. SMART LOUIS LAZARE HOWARD G. STRAUSS JOHN M. MacDONALD ERWIN STUGARD TOWNSEND B. MART>IN J. SPENCER WEED Racing Offi&ialJ Stewards EARLS. POTTER Representing New Jersey Rllclng Commission EDWIN J. BROWN JOHN P. TURNER Racing Secretar¥ JOHN TIiRNEti, JR. p'laclng Judges JOHN J. BRENNAN STANLEY F. GILLESPIE W. B. TRUNDLE Clerk of Scales Paddock Judge A.BONAGURA THOMAS STEI;LE Starter Timer EDWARD BLIND JOSEPH R. MEGILL AQnouncer JACK STEVENS Steward Associates J. L. BOND W. V. MULLIN K. H.LENNOX J. R. PRYCE Director of Mutuels Publicity W. RIGGS MAHONY HORACE WADE Admission Pollee HERBERT J. SHAW T. R. P. B., INC. GeneraL SuperlllleQdenl Comptroller and Asst. Sec'y EVERETT WILSON HARVEY WARDELl. Paddock Veterinarians The famous Monmouth Park club house, with Thoroughbreds DR. Wm. S. MILLER DR. E. FOODER Veterinarian Representillg New Jersey Commission parading in the walking ring. The club house is topped by DR. JOHN H. SPURLOCK two tiers of parterre boxes, the most unusual area on the turf. Physician DR. STANLEY O. WILKINS 32nd DAY, MONDAY, JULY 23, 1951 POST TIME 2 :30 P. M~ "SUNNY JIM"q . JilzJimmonJ J ames Fitzsimmons, dean of American trainers" is honored this afternoon at Monmouth Park on the occasion of his 77th birthday. Surrounded by friends and associates, it is racing's salute to a gentleman who, -for nearly three quarters of a century, has been a credit to the sport of horse racing and one of its brightest lights. During that span of years Mr. Fitz has fol- lowed the trail of the Thoroughbred through the labyrinthine channels of chance, and he has en- joyed every minute of it. Yet, as distance lends JAMES FITZSIMMONS enchantment to any fa'r-off vista, so have the James Fitzsimmons, dean of American trainers, is years cast their halo about horses, events and honored at Monmouth Park this afternoon, designated jockeys of the unreturning past when Mr. Fitz "Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons Day" at the races. first joined the Clan of Gallop as. a jockey. ?e Surrounded by his friends and invited guests, it is was only 15 years old then, yet ten years earlJer racing's own tribute to a gentleman who, for nearly racing had actually crept into his body like a bar three quarters of a century, has been a credit to the sport of music and mushroomed there like a soft bul- of horse racing and one of its brightest lights. let. That was when his parents had sold their "Mr. Fitz" first joined the Clan of Gallop many years home and seen it swallowed up by the old Sheeps- ago as a jockey, riding at old Monmouth Park against head Bay race track near Brpoklyn. Marty Bergen, Lonnie Clayton and others of that hard riding generation. As increasing weight forced him from "I started walking hots when I didn't weigh the saddle he became a stableman on the back stretch, any more than a ten cent piece of liver," said "hand galloping" horses' legs, cleaning out stalls and Mr. Fitz, "and I grew up to be a jockey, although walking hots, never knowing that the abracada,bras he I was no great shucks when compared with Tod was absorbing would some day work magic in the world of the turf. Sloan, Marty Bergen, Lonnie Clayton and others of that hard riding generation. I often walked Then, 52 years ago, he saddled his first winner, and has my mounts the 14 miles from Sheep shead Bay to since numbered his victories in the thousands. As trainer Jamaica, then back again at night. There were for the Belair Stud and the Wheatley Stable he has tightened the girth on many of the nation's greatest no vans in those days; we used to do all our thoroughbreds, including two winners of the Kentucky traveling 'by hand': . Derby, Gallant Fox and Johnstown. He took Gallant Fox "Some of our racmg was done at mght - the to the tpp as leading money winner of all time, while 'electric light circuit' we called it-and when the others who have known his training magic include Apache, summer season didn't seem long enough we'd even Fenelon, Faireno, Islater, Bossuet, King Cole, Snarp, Vagrancy and Priscilla Ruley, all names to make the race horses during the winter. Many's the time heart of racing fans go up and down like a milk punch a snow-plow would clear the course just before in the shaker. - , post time so the horses would ,have a pathway On this 77th birthday of James Fitzsimmons, the Mon- to run." mouth Park Jockey Club is proud to greet him-and wish When the inexorable shadow of the scales him many more happy returns of the year, finally blotted out "Sunny Jim's" riding career in his late teens he continued on the turf as a helper in the track kitchen, just so he could .re- main near the sport he loved and go on eatmg DID YOU KNOW THAT ... regularly. Conformation experts in appraising a horse allow more points for the feet than for any portion of the animal's anatomy. His next step was to become a stable groom. "Every time I get t~ feeling high and mighty He "hand galloped" horses' legs, cleaned out about myself I always drop down a peg when I stalls and walked hots, never knowing that the remember how I once sold Seabiscuit for $8,000," abracadabras he was absorbing would some day Mr. Fitz reflected with a wry smile. "Charles S. work magic in the world of the turf. Then, 52 Howard bought him and the horse then won. years ago, he saddled his first winner as a trainer. more than $435,000. He has been on the right side of a ledger and "We'd decided to thin out the Wheatley Stable the left side of a horse ever since, chalking up stock and Seabiscuit was one of those slated to his victories in the thousands. There are few im- go. There was some, consolation later in the portant stakes which have escaped his keen hand, thought that Seabiscuit did a great deal for Cali- and he has tightened the girths on some of the fornia racing at a time when the sport was in finest horses ever to plant a steel shod hoof on critical need of help on the West Coast, and I the American turf. am, for anything that helps racing anywhere." A memorable training association was with Those last words both mirror and symbolize the well known New York financier, James F. Mr. Fitz's remarkable turf career. For seventy . Thompson, owner of the Quincy Stable. At a years he has been a credit to the sport he loves, Saratoga auction sale Mr. Fitz, acting for J ohn- basking in the simplicities and realities that have son, once bid $4,000 for a rangy, good looking made his life rounded out and complete - the son of Fair Play. spattering of turf clods and the bite of sun and "If Mr. Johnson had been with me I know wind; the presence of old and pleasant duties he'd have let me go higher and we'd have owned marked off throughout the afternoon by the that colt," said Fitzsimmons. "However, I stopped sweet-sharp tones of the bugle. at $4,000 and the late Samuel D. Riddle bought Monmouth Park is proud and happy to salute him for just a thousand more and called him him this afternoon and wish him many happy Man 0' War." returns of the day .. It was 27 years ago that Mr. Fitz assumed the training of the world famous Belair Stud and, a little later, that of the Wheatley Stable. It marked the start of an owner-trainer combine which has since made illfportant racing history. THE C7 II "I suppose Gallant Fox was the best horse I ever trained," said the veteran horseman remi- . JiflldinlJ ..Nearl niscently. "He won the 1930 Kentucky Derby, and every race that year except the Travers Stakes when he was beaten by a 100 to 1 shot, J ames Fitzsimmons has stated that the best Jim Dandy. You can't explain such an astound- horse he trained during his years of service to ing upset; it's just one of those things that make the turf js Gallant Fox. horse racing so interesting and unpredictable. On this "James Fitzsimmons Day" at Mon- Gallant Fox ran only two years, winning 11 of ~outh Park, however, it is fitting that a story his 17 starts and $328,165, at the time a new be told of another great Fitzsimmons-trained money record. Nine years later another speedy horse, one of the gamest in the history of the booger named Johnstown came along, and I also turf. won the Kentucky Derby with him." There's a line from Hamlet that begins: "To He has handled other turf titans - Apache, thine own self be true." Genelon, Faireno, 1solater, Bossuet, King Cole, .Shakespeare might have been thinking of Snark, Vagrancy and Priscilla Ruley, to list but Thoroughbred race horses at the time: a few all names to make the heart of racing "To thine own self be true.