Allen Jerkens - Giant Killer

Allen Jerkens – Giant Killer

Joseph Di Rienzi

Harry Allen Jerkens (1929 – 2015) is a Thoroughbred Museum and Racing Hall of Fame inductee who is most known as the conditioner of horses who were able to upset Kelso, Buckpasser and Secretariat  – three of the best to race in the 20^th century (and among my favorites). In this piece, I will look at the horses and circumstances that enabled Jerkens to fashion these surprising victories.

H. Allen Jerkens
(Barbara D. Livingston photo)

Allen Jerkens grew up on Long Island, NY and had his introduction to caring for horses through his father who owned a riding academy. Getting his license in 1950 at the age of 21, Jerkens had his greatest success as the private trainer for financier Jack Dreyfus Jr.’s Hobeau Farm. The stable raced horses of unfashionable pedigrees or who were castoffs after under achieving for more established outfits. Jerkens, an old school trainer, was a strong believer in racing when his horses were fit and frequently would run them back in short intervals between starts. Jerkens had a stern exterior demeanor but was known to be generous to his loyal staff.

The first major runner campaigned by Jerkens was the Hobeau Farm homebred Beau Purple. Originally conditioned by George P. Odom, the speedy son of Beau Gar had won the Derby Trial in 1960. However, an injury kept him out of running in the year’s Kentucky Derby. After being lightly raced as a four-year-old in 1961, Beau Purple was given to Jerkens to train (along with all the other Hobeau horses) midway through 1962. Entered in the 1¼ mile Suburban Handicap at Aqueduct Racetrack, Beau Purple, assigned a modest 115 lb., was facing the two time Horse of the Year Kelso (lugging 132 lb.) and the previous year’s three-year-old champion Carry Back (at 126 lb.) in the four horse field. Beau Purple came into the Suburban with the reputation of a speedy but erratic racehorse. What no one but Allen Jerkens seemed to know was that if left alone on the lead, Beau Purple’s courage would increase, and his pedigree would carry him as far as racehorses needed to travel. In the Suburban, Beau Purple set a moderate pace and met the challenge of Kelso winning by 2½ lengths in new track record time with Carry Back finishing last. Jerkens, a strapping individual, let his emotions take over as he was seen weeping for joy in the winner’s circle.

Within two weeks, this trio were re-matched in the 1¼ mile Monmouth Handicap. Beau Purple (117 lb.), being pressed this time, faltered, but Carry Back (124 lb.) drew clear to defeat Kelso (130 lb.) by 3 lengths. Kelso did not contest the Brooklyn Handicap, but Beau Purple (117 lb.), finding his courage again, led all the way besting his recently set track record for a 1¼ mile with Carry Back (127 lb.) finishing fourth.

Beau Purple faced Kelso again in the 1¼ mile Woodward Stakes at Belmont Park and, under equal weights, faded to fifth place beaten a total of 13 lengths as the great gelding won easily by 4½ lengths over the presumptive sophomore champion Jaipur. Kelso, Carry Back and Beau Purple met twice again in the fall, the first time in the 1½ mile Man o’ War Stakes at Belmont on turf. Under equal weights, Beau Purple, defied his critics that claimed he needed weight concessions to win, leading all the way defeating the pursuing Kelso by 2 lengths and setting a new course record in the process with Carry Back fifth. In the climatic 1½ mile Washington D. C. International (also run on grass), Kelso’s handlers, determined not to let Beau Purple “steal another race”, sent Kelso after the latter early in the race. He ran that rival into the ground, fought off Carry Back’s charge in the stretch but was unable to withstand the closing kick of the French representative Match II who defeated Kelso by 1½ lengths. Beau Purple hopelessly beaten in his 20^th year start finished eleventh.

Kelso and Beau Purple had their final meeting at the start of 1963 at Hialeah Park. In the 1¼ mile Widener Handicap, Kelso under 131 lb. for the third time could not catch Beau Purple (at 126 lb.), who, in what would be his final race, led all the way defeating the former by 2½ lengths.

Allen Jerkens had the next opportunity to build on his “Giant Killer” reputation in the summer of 1967 when Ogden Phipps’ mighty Buckpasser was trying to capture the Handicap Triple. The four-year-old son of Tom Fool had won the 1 mile Metropolitan Handicap toting 130 lb. and the Suburban Handicap under 133 lb. Asked to carry 136 lb. in the Brooklyn Handicap, Buckpasser was facing some of the same horses he defeated in the previous two legs. Included in the field was Hobeau Farm’s Handsome Boy, who just like Beau Purple was sired by Beau Gar and trained by Allen Jerkens. He had raced indifferently the last two years until he won the Nassau County Stakes in June at Aqueduct. After the Suburban in which he finished fourth, Handsome Boy won the Amory L. Haskell Handicap at Monmouth Park a week before the Brooklyn. Carrying 116 lb. and at odds 5-1, Handsome Boy, following the same prescription as Beau Purple used five years earlier went straight to lead, set very fast fractions and kept going to win by an astounding 8 lengths over Buckpasser in nearly track record time.

Attempting to go two levels better on giant slaying, Jerkens had Handsome Boy face Buckpasser again, this time at equal weights in the Woodward Stakes. Entered in this contest were two other titans of the turf in sophomores Damascus and Dr. Fager. Billed as “The Race of the Century”, the 1967 Woodward saw Damascus sweep clear to defeat Buckpasser by 10 lengths with Dr. Fager a close behind third. Handsome Boy, no match for this trio, finished fourth beaten a total of over 23 lengths.

Allen Jerkens reached his apotheosis as the architect of “shockers” in 1973 when two different trainees of his defeated the immortal Secretariat. Three weeks after his Triple Crown success, Secretariat had traveled to Chicago, IL to win an invitational race at Arlington Park. The son of Bold Ruler ran next in Whitney Stakes against older horses in early August as a prep for the Travers Stakes. Saratoga Racetrack has long held the appellation of “The Graveyard of Champions” (since Man o’ War’s defeat by Upset in 1919), and Secretariat met his “Upset” in the personage of Hobeau Farm’s Onion, a four-year-old gelding, a good sprinting allowance horse. Having placed in three stakes races early in the year, Onion, was very sharp in winning an allowance race at Saratoga earlier in the week of the Whitney in track record time. Jerkens, ever the opportunist, entered him in the race where he went off the second choice at odds 5-1. The truth is Onion did not win the Whitney; Secretariat lost it. He was trapped on the rail the entire race and never had the opportunity to extend his stride, losing by a length to his older foe. In the aftermath of the Whitney, Secretariat was declared to have a fever that would force him to miss the Travers Stakes.

Onion faced Secretariat once more in the inaugural Marlboro Cup Handicap which attracted a stellar field at Belmont Park in September. Fully recovered from his fever, Secretariat tracked the pace of his stablemate (and fellow champion) Riva Ridge before powering to victory by 3½ lengths in record time for the 9 furlong race with Onion finishing fourth beaten a total of 12 lengths.

Onion continued to race till age seven without ever winning another stakes race as he gradually descended back into obscurity. However, later in 1973, another Hobeau Farm horse trained by Allen Jerkens would gain notoriety by defeating Secretariat and Riva Ridge in respective races.

Unlike today’s era of protecting breeding values, owners in those days raced their prized horses. Secretariat was back in action soon after the Marlboro, actually quicker than planned. The now 1½ mile Woodward Stakes saw both Riva Ridge and Secretariat in the entries, two weeks after the Marlboro. Riva Ridge was the intended starter if the track was fast, whereas Secretariat’s connections were planning to race him on turf for the remainder of his career. However, the Belmont track came up sloppy on Woodward day, and Riva Ridge was scratched. Secretariat, who had not been trained vigorously, represented the stable in the race. In the field was Prove Out a four-year-old castoff recently purchased by Hobeau Farm. Sired by Graustark out of a legendary King Ranch family that traced back to Triple Crown winner, Assault, Prove Out had showed flashes of brilliance but was inconsistent due to unsoundness. In his first races for Jerkens, he won some allowance races, but prior to the Woodward he was seventh with an excuse in the Chesapeake Handicap at Bowie Racetrack in Maryland. In the Woodward Stakes, Prove Out (at odds 16-1) took the lead early, relinquished it to Secretariat down the backstretch, but to everyone’s surprise he regained it in the stretch and drew out to a shocking but impressive win. Secretariat was second, 4½ lengths behind Prove Out’s wake.

Secretariat made the final two starts of his illustrious career on turf winning spectacularly both the Man o’ War Stakes at Belmont Park and the Canadian International Championship at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Canada. On the same weekend as Secretariat’s finale in Canada, Riva Ridge bowed out in the 2 mile Jockey Club Gold Cup in which Prove Out was also entered. Demonstrating his Woodward victory was no fluke, the son of Graustark vied with Riva Ridge for the early lead. Showing his distance loving pedigree, Prove Out raced Riva Ridge into submission before drawing out to win by 4¾ lengths with Riva Ridge fading to sixth. Unlike Onion, Prove Out was meant to be a top class racehorse. He raced briefly as a five-year-old in 1974 winning a stakes race and placing in two others before an injury forced his retirement.

Allen Jerkens who was affectionately called “The Chief”, by racetrack employees, passed away in 2015 at age 85. In 2017, the New York Racing Association renamed the King’s Bishop Stakes (whom Jerkens himself trained) the H. Allen Jerkens Stakes. The 7 furlong race is run annually at Saratoga, a fitting venue where “The Giant Killer” slew his greatest giant.