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~*mimmm ■Lk_JB Searching Searching finished finished REFLECTIONS *y lson dunstan AQUEDUCT, L. I., N. Y., June 24. — James Fitzsimmons, better known as "Sunny Jim," completed one of the most spectacular feats of the season when he saddled Quick Lunch to win the Shevlin from a good-sized field, and in an earlier race, for two-year-old year-old fillies fillies at at five five and and one-half one-half furlongs, furlongs, Gallair, Gallair, First First Flower Flower and and one-two-three one-two-three for for Mrs. Mrs. Whitney Whitney Stone, Stone, ~*mimmm ■Lk_JB Searching Searching finished finished year-old fillies fillies at at five five and and one-half one-half furlongs, furlongs, Gallair, Gallair, First First Flower Flower and and one-two-three one-two-three for for Mrs. Mrs. Whitney Whitney Stone, Stone, Belair Stud and Ogden Phipps, respectively. This is but another feat in one of the most remarkable careers of an American turfman. Sunny Jim will be eighty years old next month, and he has just as much enthusiasm for his work today as he had 30 or more years ago. Down through the years, the "Sage of Sheepshead Bay," whom we doubt has an enemy in the world, has been charged with having too many horses to do justice to himself, his employers or racing. Fitzsimmons probably heard the re-. marks, but he paid no attention to them. With all his proven skill as a conditioner of thoroughbreds, he contends that luck played its part in his career and that the fickle lady gave him good horses to train. He continues to accept all the horses his four employers ask him to take — William Woodward, Jr., Mrs. Henry C. Phipps, Ogden Phipps and Mrs. Whitney Stone. Year in and out, he has been among the leading trainers in America, and has developed more than 120 different stakes winners. He has won virtually every feature event in the East, with the exception of the Hopeful and Belmont Futurity. As recently as the last Belmont Park meeting, he led his colleagues with 20 victories, including several stakes. AAA Although he has been training horses for half a century, this 1954 season could be the greatest in Fitzsimmons career. Up to the running of the Shevlin he had Jim Fitzsimmons, Near Eighty, Still Wins Performed Rare Feat at Aqueduct Course Veteran Trainer Handles Fifty Horses Has Well-Organized Staff of Assistants won some 42 races and over 85,000., He appears to have a good chance to add the Hopeful and the Belmont Futurity to his brilliant collection of stakes. In Belair Studs Nashua he has a two-year-old colt who could be . one of the tops in his division. Nashua proved his high quality by winning the recent Juvenile Stakes from a large group of hig*hly regarded youngsters. This colt, a son of Nasrullah — Segula, is on a short vacation and it is our understanding he will not be seen in action again until the racing at upstate Saratoga. Quick Lunch entered the three-year-old championship picture by his showing in the Shevlin, and the question concerning him now is whether he can hold his own at the mile and a quarter distance. He was not made an eligible for the Dwyer on July 3, so there is a.question when this nicely bred son of Blenheim n., out of Picnic Lunch, will be in action. Sunny Jim has some fine two-year-old fillies in his care, as was demonstrated in Mondays races. AAA Many people raise their eyebrows in surprise when told that Fitzsimmons has trained 50 to 60 horses a season in recent years. There is nothing bordering on the mysterious in this stable. His noted colleague, Max Hirsch, once said: "It is run with unbelievable precision and results prove it. Fitzsimmons is a marvel as a horseman and a manager." The physical work of handling 50 or 60 head of" horses is not actually done by the famous old trainer. When stock begins piling up on him, he has devised a system to meet it and it has proved efficacious. He has three foremen, one in charge of each of his three barns. Bart Sweeney is his assistant and in command of the entire outfit under Fitzsimmons. The foremen report to Fitzsimmons every evening and name the horses who are ready to work the next morning. Before a saddle is . placed on any of them, the temperature of each horse is taken. If thes lightest sign of fever shows, or if a meal is ignored, that horse is excused from his regular exercise and is given a slow walk under his shed instead. With his chargers fed and groomed, the foreman of each barn mounts his exercise boys and has them ride into a big ring between the barns. Tn the center of the ring Fitzsimmons sits in a chair and inspects every horse as it passes in review. Then, the veteran issues his orders to the exercise boy for the workout. Some riders are told to breeze slowly, others to drive hard, but all are instructed not to use their whips. This ended, Fitzsimmons saunters to the rail, watch in hand, and he and his foremen time each set. AAA After the "workout, the horses are again paraded and inspected before being cooled out and put away for the day. A single misstep by one puts him on the sidelines for special attention. After the meal hour, Fitzsimmons receives a report from Sweeney on how each horse ate. If there is any secret in Fitsimmons training, it must be the "efficient way he has organized his foremen to do most of the work and then pass final judgment himself. His record speaks for itself. He has won the "Triple Crown" twice, with Gallant Fox and Omaha, and the Kentucky Derby three times, Johnstown being the third victor. He has won the Belmont Stakes five time, with Gallant Fox, Faireno, Omaha, Granville and Johnstown. In the last 10 years, his chargers have won 461 rac,es and earned ap- Continued on Page Forty-Six REFLECTIONS By NELSON DUNSTAN Continued from Page Fifty-Six proximately ,675,000. All of this, mind you, by a man who was once a jockey and later went to Philadelphia to take a job with the Philadelphia Rapid Transit. His first winner was the filly, Agnes D., on August 7, 1900. He has compiled a record that has few parallels in thoroughbred training in this country. That he is now approaching 80 makes his career even more spectacular. — . . — — — —
