Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons
Encyclopedia
James Edward Fitzsimmons (July 23, 1874 – March 11, 1966) was a thoroughbred
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...

 racehorse trainer
Horse trainer
In horse racing, a trainer prepares a horse for races, with responsibility for exercising it, getting it race-ready and determining which races it should enter...

.

Born in Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn, New York, Fitzsimmons began his career in 1885 working at a racetrack as a stable boy. After nearly ten less-than-successful years as a thoroughbred jockey
Jockey
A jockey is an athlete who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing.-Etymology:...

, he became too heavy for that job and took up the training of horses. He went on to have one of the most successful careers in racing history that spanned seventy years from 1894–1963 and produced 2,275 race wins.

Known both as "Sunny Jim" and as "Mr. Fitz," he trained three Kentucky Derby
Kentucky Derby
The Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses, held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter mile at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry...

 winners, four Preakness Stakes
Preakness Stakes
The Preakness Stakes is an American flat Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds held on the third Saturday in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. It is a Grade I race run over a distance of 9.5 furlongs on dirt. Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds ; fillies 121 lb...

 winners, and six Belmont Stakes
Belmont Stakes
The Belmont Stakes is an American Grade I stakes Thoroughbred horse race held every June at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is a 1.5-mile horse race, open to three year old Thoroughbreds. Colts and geldings carry a weight of 126 pounds ; fillies carry 121 pounds...

 winners. Included were two U.S. Triple Crown
United States Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing
In the United States, the "Triple Crown" is usually the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, a series of three Thoroughbred horse races for three-year-old horses run in May and early June of each year consisting of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes.While Daily Racing Form...

 champions, Gallant Fox
Gallant Fox
Gallant Fox was a United States Thoroughbred horseracing champion.Foaled at Claiborne Farm in Paris, Kentucky by Sir Gallahad III out of the mare Marguerite, Gallant Fox was a bay colt who became the second horse to win the U.S...

 in 1930 and Omaha
Omaha (horse)
Omaha was a United States thoroughbred horse racing champion.Foaled at Claiborne Farm in Paris, Kentucky, he was the son of 1930 U.S. Triple Crown winner Gallant Fox and the mare Flambino. Omaha was the third horse to win the Triple Crown having won as a three-year-old in 1935.Omaha was an...

 in 1935. His total of thirteen Classic wins was tied by D. Wayne Lukas
D. Wayne Lukas
Darrell Wayne Lukas is a former educator who became one of the most successful horse trainers in American Thoroughbred horse racing history and a U.S...

 in 2000. Five times, Fitzsimmons was the season's top money-winning trainer.

In 1923 Jim Fitzsimmons took over training at Belair Stud
Belair Stud
Belair Stud was an American thoroughbred horse racing stable and breeding farm founded by Provincial Governor of Maryland, Samuel Ogle in 1747 in Collington, Prince Georges County, Maryland in Colonial America.-Colonial Period:...

. Following the death of Belair's owner and the dispersal of its stock, Fitzsimmons continued to train for the Wheatley Stable
Wheatley Stable
Wheatley Stable was the nom de course for the thoroughbred horse racing partnership formed by Gladys Mills Phipps and her brother, Ogden L. Mills. The horses were raised at Claiborne Farm near Paris, Kentucky.-History:...

 where he conditioned Preakness winner and the 1957 American Horse of the Year Bold Ruler
Bold Ruler
Bold Ruler was an American Thoroughbred Hall of Fame racehorse.Bred by the Wheatley Stable of Gladys Mills Phipps, Bold Ruler was foaled on April 6, 1954 at Claiborne Farm in Paris, Kentucky to Nasrullah and Miss Disco by Discovery...

 who sired the great Secretariat
Secretariat (horse)
Secretariat was an American Thoroughbred racehorse, that in 1973 became the first U.S. Triple Crown champion in 25 years, setting new race records in two of the three events in the Series—the Kentucky Derby , and the Belmont Stakes —records that still stand today.Secretariat was sired by Bold...

.

In recognition of his accomplishments, in 1958 Fitzsimmons was inducted in the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame was founded in 1950 in Saratoga Springs, New York, to honor the achievements of American thoroughbred race horses, jockeys, and trainers...

.

The National Turf Writers Association
National Turf Writers Association
The National Turf Writers Association is an American association of journalists, columnists and other writers involved with reporting on the horse racing industry...

 created an award in his name called the "Mr. Fitz Award" to honor a member of the horse racing fraternity each year.

Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons died in 1966 in Miami, Florida
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...

. He is buried in the Holy Cross Cemetery, Brooklyn.

Selected other major stakes race wins:
  • Saratoga Cup : 10
  • Dwyer Stakes
    Dwyer Stakes
    The Dwyer Stakes is an American Grade II stakes race for three-year-old thoroughbred racehorses held annually at Belmont Park racetrack in Elmont, Long Island, New York. Run in early July, it is open to three-year-old horses and is raced over a distance of 1 1/16-miles on dirt...

     : 9
  • Lawrence Realization : 8
  • Alabama Stakes
    Alabama Stakes
    The Alabama Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race open to three-year-old fillies. Inaugurated in 1872, the Grade I race is run over a distance of one and one-quarter miles on the dirt track at Saratoga Race Course. Held in mid August, it currently offers a purse of $500,000...

     : 8
  • Suburban Handicap
    Suburban Handicap
    The Suburban Handicap is an American Grade II Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. Open to horses age three and older, it is run at the classic one-and-one-quarter mile distance on dirt for a $400,000 purse....

    : 5

Sources

  • Breslin, Jimmy
    Jimmy Breslin
    Jimmy Breslin is an American journalist and author. He currently writes a column for the New York Daily News' Sunday edition. He has written numerous novels, and columns of his have appeared regularly in various newspapers in his hometown of New York City...

     Sunny Jim: The life of America's most beloved horseman, James Fitzsimmons (1962) Doubleday & Company, Inc.
  • Bowen, Edward L.
    Edward L. Bowen
    Edward L. Bowen is an American Thoroughbred horse racing historian and author and the president of the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation, an institution involved in funding equine research....

     Masters of the Turf: Ten Trainers Who Dominated Horse Racing's Golden Age (2007) Eclipse Press (ISBN 978-1581501490)
  • James Fitzsimmons at the United States' National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
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