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Finnegan Returns to Downs Scenei First Racing Job A Stable Foreman , Native New Yorker Worked Under Kay Spence at Derby Course Before Going West William B. Finnegan, veteran trainer tor Murcain Stables Jeans Joe, is returning to the Blue Grass country which saw him " launched on his successful career as a trainer quite some years ago. Finnegan, a native New Yorker, broke into racing at old Sheepshead Bay, but got hir first real break when he /went to Kentucky and be- came a stable foreman for the late Kay Spence. It was here at Churchill Downs that he became a trainer in his own right. When ! Spence took over a major stable; some of his patrons, were without a trainer. W. F. Knebelkamp decided to give Finnegan a chance and he made good. In those days, Knebelkamp raced at Tijuana every winter, and Finnegan took the stable west. It was his first encounter with western winter racing conditions, but ever since then, he has come to be regarded more and more as a western trainer. His first good horse was Lady Astor, who won the Tijuana Cup, and later on, he was to train Alex Pantages, Shasta Bullet, Shasta Pine and other top ones of the era on the coast. Sold Papers at Sheepshead Bay Finnegan started life as a newsboy, and his paper selling chores were at the gates of Sheepshead Bay. It wasnt much of a step inside the gates to the backstretch, and. Dave Gideon gave the 90-pound lad an opportunity to become an exercise boy. - But weight caught up with him fast, and he turned to grooming, walking hots, and was a valet in the jockeys room for-a spell. "The man taught me a lot," recalls Finnegan, "and some of his basic ideas not only were fundamentally sound then but remain so today. For instance he told me that a horse had a reason for everything he did, and that it was up to the trainer to "find out, if -at all possible, why. By so doing, faults could in many instances be corrected, and good strong traits emphasized. He also taught me that the less work it takes to get a horse dead fit, the longer the horse could be expected to maintain his peak form under hard racing conditions." — The Murcain horse will, mark Finnegans second connection with a Kentucky Derby. His first was in 1914, with Hedge, who ran second to Old Rosebud. At that time, he was foreman for Spence, but had a hand in every conditioning move that Hodge made. However, Old Rosebud was just too much horse for his field that year. Finnegan has raced exclusively on the west coast for the last several years. While known on the coast as the trainer for Murcain, Finnegan in reality is a public trainer, with other patrons including attorney Neil S. McCarthy, and San Francisco sportsman George Pope. Finnegan has helped many others along -- as trainers. Two of his star pupils are the Philpot brothers, Graceton and Hurst. Graceton trained for Louis B. Mayer, while Hursts best known post was with the late Charles S. Howard. Finnegan has had the supervision of Jeans Joe ever since the colt was sent to California as a yearling from Stoner Creek.
