Allen Jerkens

Top Associated Horses: Formidable, Always Mine, Le Grand Cru, Verse Choir, Granted Tiger, Inheritor

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2009 Record: (237-28-33-33)

2009 Earnings: $1,463,785

2009 Win %: 11% In-The-Money %: 39%

Born: April 21, 1929, Islip, N.Y.
Residence: Bellerose Terrace, N.Y.
Family: wife Elisabeth; children Allen, Steve and twins Jimmy and Julie. Jimmy and Steve are both trainers ... Nicknames: “Giant Killer” (which he does not like) for the many upsets of champion horses he has orchestrated; and “Chief” for his remarkable horsemanship and knowledge. His given name is Harry
Web site: www.allenjerkens.com
Racing Background: Jerkens has been involved with his horses his entire life. His father, Joseph, was a captain in the Austrian cavalry before emigrating to the United States. His mother, Minerva, grew up on a dairy farm near Syracuse, N.Y., and was a school teacher … Jerkens said he was going to the barn with his father, who took care of H.T. Peters' polo ponies and hunters and jumpers, when he was a pre-schooler. Later his father bought a riding academy and would always fool with an old racehorse someone would give him, one that they didn’t think could run anymore. "The bay was right there and he thought the salt water therapy was very good and we used to ride them in the bay. We didn’t swim them, but they would walk in up to their bellies. It was fun for a child. Every time we weren’t in school, we would go to the barn and help, even cleaning the stalls,” said Jerkens … Jerkens wanted to be a jockey but grew too big. During the summer of 1945, at the age of 16, he galloped horses for trainer Steve Lawler at the old Aqueduct Racetrack … The following year, Jerkens tried steeplechase riding on horses his family owned ... Jerkens did not return to school after he turned 16 ... He and his father went into business together at Aqueduct. The elder Jerkens could get stalls at Aqueduct because he supplied horses to the Sportsmen’s Club of the Queens County Jockey Club, which owned the track at the time ... The Jerkenses started with five horses, some of which they acquired in a sheriff’s sale because the previous owners had not paid their boarding bills … Jerkens got his license in 1950 when he was 21 years old when an owner named Larry Gottlieb offered him some horses to train … Joseph Jerkens died in 1951
Racing Career: His first winner was Populace at Aqueduct on July 4, 1950 ... Admiral Vee helped Jerkens build a reputation as an astute horseman. He claimed Admiral Vee for owner Eddie Seinfeld for $7,500 and the horse won six stakes, including the 1958 Saratoga Handicap, and $200,000 ... Another of his early owners, Al Mesler, provided Jerkens with his first stakes winner, War Command ... Jerkens had been a private trainer for Eddie Burke but was fired in the fall of 1961 and opened a public stable … He returned to New York from Florida in the spring of 1962 with 35 horses and had just won a meet training title when he met Wall Street investor Jack Dreyfus Jr. “I went to see him and he said he wanted me to train his horses. I said I didn’t want to train for one person alone any more, I had a bad experience with it. He said, ‘Yeah, but I’ll claim horses and buy horses, just as if you had a public stable.’ That’s how I came to go with him.” ... “I had to tell all the other people I was training for, which was hard to do, but then he paid me a salary. That was the first time in my life that I had a salary and didn’t have to worry about the bills. He paid all the bills.” The relationship with Dreyfus, who races under the name of Hobeau Farm continues to this day ... Among the original group of six horses Dreyfus sent him was Beau Purple, who upset five-time Horse of the Year Kelso three times and also beat Kentucky Derby winner Carry Back ... Among the other horses Jerkens trained for Hobeau Farm were Duck Dance and Handsome Boy, who defeated Buckpasser ... In 1973, Jerkens upset Secretariat in the Whitney Handicap with Onion and with Prove Out in the Woodward. He was the Eclipse Award-winning trainer that year ... In 1975 at the age of 45, Jerkens became the youngest trainer elected to the Hall of Fame of the National Museum of Racing. He held that distinction until 1998 when Bill Mott, also 45 but younger by three months, was elected ... Jerkens was Hobeau’s private trainer until 1980 when Dreyfus told him could begin taking other clients ... He trained Sky Beauty, who swept New York’s Triple Tiara races for 3-year-old fillies in 1993 and became Jerkens’ first and only Eclipse Award winner when she was voted champion older filly or mare in 1994 ... Another upset was scored in the 1998 Jockey Club Gold Cup, when his 34-1 long shot Wagon Limit beat eventual Horse of the Year Skip Away … Jerkens’ long list of top stakes winners also includes Caress, Classy Mirage, Devil His Due, Dixie Flag, Kelly Kip, Missy’s Mirage, November Snow, Passing Shot, Sensitive Prince, Shine Again, Society Selection and Virginia Rapids ... He is a five-time winner of the New York Turf Writers Association’s award as outstanding trainer. In 2001 he was honored by the National Turf Writers’ Association with its Mr. Fitz Award ... Besides his sons, trainers who have opened their own businesses after working for Jerkens are Mike Hushion, Leah Gyarmati and Chuck Simon ... In July, Jerkens won the Suburban Handicap at Handicap with Political Force. The victory came 45 years after he won the race with Beau Purple in an upset of Kelson. Jimmy Jerkens saddled the beaten favorite, fourth-place finisher Corinthian in this year's Suburban ... In August, Allen won the grade 1 Personal Ensign at Saratoga with Miss Shop. Earlier in ’07, Miss Shop won the Sunshine Millions Filly & Mare Turf and the grade 2 Rampart ... Other stakes winners this year are Any Limit, Swap Fliparoo, Teammate and Ecclesiastic ... Through Dec. 31, 2007, Jerkens' Stable had earned $3,206,478. In 2007, his runners won 41 of 252 starts.

Breeders' Cup Record

Starts	1st	2nd	3rd	Earnings
11	0	1	0	$420,000

1985	Juvenile Fillies	Silent Account	9th
1993	Classic	Devil His Due	8th
	Distaff	Sky Beauty	5th
1994	Classic	Devil His Due	11th
	Distaff	Sky Beauty	9th
2003	Juvenile Fillies	Society Selection	10th
2004	Classic	Bowman's Band	11th
	Distaff	Society Selection	9th
2005	Distaff	Society Selection	2nd
2006	Sprint	War Front	7th
2007	Distaff	Teammate	11th