Benjamin Allyn Jones was an American horse breeder and trainer. He is famous for being the leading racehorses trainer in the United States. He also set up a world record with his outstanding work at Calumet Farm breeding forty-five horses that won $100, 000 or more.
Background
Benjamin Allyn Jones was born on December 31, 1882 in Parnell, Missouri, the son of Horace Jones, a cattle rancher and banker, and Julia Allyn, a teacher. The elder Jones, who owned 9, 000 acres and several small businesses, had founded the small northwestern Missouri town of Parnell after traveling from Iowa in a covered wagon. His leading economic and social position was an important factor in the early career of Jones, who spent his youth around horses and Sunday afternoon races at a small track on the ranch.
Education
When Jones left the local two-room schoolhouse, he enrolled briefly at Wentworth Military Academy, Missouri Wesleyan College, and the Colorado State College of Agriculture. He spent one year at Colorado and left in 1902 with a permanent limp, the result of a football injury.
Career
When Ben Jones returned to Parnell, his father tried unsuccessfully to interest him in a banking career. His father gave Jones 500 acres and enough money to purchase a stallion and brood mares to start a business of breeding and racing thoroughbred horses. Jones began to race his horses at fairs and small tracks throughout the Midwest and South. He made regular stops in Fort Worth, Texas, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Lewiston, Idaho, Salt Lake City, Utah, Butte, Montana, and Oklahoma City.
In 1909 he saddled his first winner at an established track, Errant Lady, collecting a purse of $200. That year he began racing during the winter in Ju rez, Mexico, and continued for two more winters. By 1914 Jones was well on his way as a breeder and trainer. His Jones Stock Farm housed the stallions Blues and Harrigan and thirty-two mares, and accounted for fourteen wins totaling $3, 470 in that year.
He extended his racing to New Orleans in 1915, and two years later added more prestige to his farm with the purchase of Seth, a stallion that sired numerous colts selling for $800 to $8, 000 each. But he was still in the "bush leagues" of racing.
Jones graduated to the Chicago circuit around 1925, and for the remainder of the decade was consistently one of the top ten breeders in terms of races won. Among his horses were offspring of Seth: Dolly Seth, Seth's Hope, Senator Seth, General Seth, Colonel Seth, and on down to Private Seth. Whereas his major competitors had large operations and several employees, Jones campaigned independently and earned considerable money in small amounts through hard work, much travel, and perseverance.
Jones discontinued his breeding farm in 1930 and two years later began training for Herbert M. Woolf, a Kansas City clothing merchant, at his Woolford Farm. During his tenure with Woolf, he trained thirteen stakes winners and won more than a half million dollars. In 1938, his last complete year at Woolford, he trained Lawrin, winner at Hialeah, the Flamingo, the Hollywood Trial Stakes, a special invitational race at Hollywood Park for $40, 000, and the Kentucky Derby.
Eddie Arcaro rode Lawrin in the Derby, beginning an awesome combination of trainer and jockey that continued for at least fourteen years. In August 1939, Warren Wright, owner of Calumet Farm in Lexington, Kentucky, who was impressed with Lawrin's victory over his own horse Bull Lea in the Derby, hired Jones as his head trainer. This was the start of twenty-two years with the same employer and a career that included almost continual top national honors for both Jones and Calumet Farm.
In 1940, his first complete year with Calumet, the farm placed third among money-winning owners. A Calumet two-year-old, Whirlaway, was the nation's top money winner with $77, 275 and victories in seven out of sixteen starts. The next year Whirlaway ran a record time of 2:01 2/5 for the one-and-one-quarter-mile Kentucky Derby with Eddie Arcaro aboard--a record not broken until 1962--and went on to win the coveted Triple Crown. "Mr. Longtail, " as Whirlaway was affectionately called, was named Horse of the Year, after being known as a problem horse.
Jones corrected Whirlaway's tendency to swing out by using a one-eyed blinker. He handled the high-strung horse with kindness and patience instead of punishment. Jones was the leading trainer in 1941. With only thirty-five horses racing, Calumet Farm earned $475, 091, to place first in money won.
In 1942 Whirlaway set a new track record at Aqueduct for one and one-eighth miles at 1:49 2/5, and another in the Massachusetts Handicap at 1:48 1/5. Upon his retirement in 1944 Whirlaway had won a record $561, 161. When Whirlaway retired, Jones had other horses to carry the Calumet colors of devil's red and blue. In 1944 Pensive won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, but lost the Belmont by half a length. That same year Twilight Tear (or "Suzie, " as she was called by Jones) was voted Horse of the Year, the first time a filly was chosen, after she won eleven races in a row.
Armed, another Jones-trained horse, also did exceptionally well in 1944. The large brown gelding placed in all but one of his eighteen starts, won eleven, equaled or broke four track records, and won $288, 725. In 1945 Pot O'Luck placed second in the Kentucky Derby. By 1946 Armed had earned $342, 875 to become the world's richest gelding. In 1947 he won $376, 325 and was named Horse of the Year. Upon his death in 1962, he had amassed winnings of $817, 475.
Jones became Calumet Farm's general manager in 1947, relinquishing some of his training duties to his son "Jimmy. " That year Calumet raced in two divisions, and horses and trainers were interchangeable. Jones and his son, known as the "Jones boys, " each earned a $12, 000 salary plus 5 percent of the winnings. Their tireless efforts on both the eastern and the western circuits had much to do with Calumet Farm's becoming the first million-dollar owner in 1947, with winnings totaling $1, 402, 436. A two-year-old named Citation contributed greatly to this success.
In that same year Faultless placed third in the Kentucky Derby. Only losing one race in twenty starts, Citation won the Triple Crown and was unanimously named Horse of the Year in 1948. With the Derby victory, Jones's fourth, jockey Arcaro broke Isaac Murphy's long-standing record of winning three Derbies. Another Jones-trained horse, Coaltown, placed second in the same race. As further examples of what made Jones and Calumet Farm a great team, that same day Citation won $91, 870 in the Preakness at Baltimore, and two other Calumet horses, Faultless and Fervent, ran one and two in New York for $75, 300 - a total of $167, 170 in Calumet earnings for one day of racing.
In 1949, when Ponder became Jones's fifth Kentucky Derby winner, Jones surpassed the training record of "Derby Dick" Thompson. Wistful won the National Filly Triple Crown that year and, ending the best decade in racing history for any trainer, Citation became the first thoroughbred millionaire with winnings of $1, 085, 760.
In 1950 Warren Wright's widow, Lucille Parker Wright, took control of Calumet. Two years later she married Rear Admiral Gene Markey. Jones continued to train for the Markeys, and in 1952 Eddie Arcaro rode Hill Gail to his fifth Derby victory, the sixth for Jones. Real Delight, another Calumet and Jones horse, won the National Filly Triple Crown that year.
During 1953 and 1954 Calumet raced only on western tracks, but moved east again in 1955. In 1956 Fabius won the Preakness and finished second in the Kentucky Derby. The following year, because of failing health, Ben Jones unofficially retired. The American Racing Manual credited him with having trained the winners of 1, 528 races and with earning $4, 703, 326 from 1914 to 1953. His son went on to win the Kentucky Derby in 1957 with Iron Liege and again the following year with Tim Tam. During this period Jones still worked at Calumet in an advisory capacity and spent some time with young horses in Hialeah, Florida. He officially retired in 1960.
He died in 1961 at Lexington, Kentucky.
Achievements
Benjamin Allyn Jones was a successful trainer of United States thoroughbred racehorses in which capacity he achieved remarkable results. For example, during his tenure with Herbert Woolf, he trained thirteen stakes winners and won more than a half million dollars. In 1940 he trained the nation's top money winner with $77, 275 and victories in seven out of sixteen starts, a Calumet two-year-old, Whirlaway. In 1920s he was already recognized as one of the better trainers in the industry, but by 1941 Jones became the leading trainer in the United States.
Throughout his career Jones trained six winners of the Kentucky Derby and two winners of all three events comprising the U. S. Triple Crown (the Derby, the Preakness, and the Belmont Stakes), Whirlaway in 1941 and Citation in 1948. In 1944 Twilight Tear (or "Suzie, " as she was called by Jones) was voted Horse of the Year, the first time a filly was chosen, after she won eleven races in a row. In 1949 Wistful won the National Filly Triple Crown, ending the best decade in racing history for any trainer, Citation became the first thoroughbred millionaire with winnings of $1, 085, 760.
Another significant achievement of Jones was his outstanding work as a general manager for Calumet Farm in Lexington, Kentucky, taking charge of its breeding operation. During Jones's tenure at Calumet Farm, the stable topped the money-winning owners' list eleven times, was second four times, and third two times. During the same years, Calumet was the leading breeder according to amount of money won fourteen times, eleven years in succession. Overall, while Jones was at Calumet, the farm bred forty-five horses that won $100, 000 or more, another world record. Five of those horses - Armed, Bewitch, Citation, Twilight Tear, and Whirlaway - were named to the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame at Saratoga, New York. In 1958 Jones was also inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.
Views
While his wife kept the books and raised the children, Jones began to race his horses at fairs and small tracks throughout the Midwest and South. He always claimed that his major reason for success was simply that he worked harder than anyone else.
A firm believer in "natural speed, " he trained only those horses whose endurance he could improve. He did nothing "by the book. " Jones relied on patience and diligence, holding and talking to horses for hours while they fed on fresh grass. Each horse had a personality, he said, so he had to learn how to treat each one. Where a horse was concerned, nothing was too much trouble or too trivial to engage his complete attention. All of Jones's horses went through numerous rituals of becoming familiar with the track, crowds, and the starting gate. One of the most vocal critics of excessive weights, Jones sometimes withdrew his horses when they were assigned too much.
Probably his outstanding skill was his genius at getting a horse ready for one big race, usually his favorite, the Kentucky Derby. In addition to his direct work with each horse, Jones was a tireless student of racing, often sitting up half the night studying condition and stakes books.
Personality
"Plain Ben" Jones was five feet, ten-and-a-half inches tall and stocky, with a bulldog jaw. He was kind and folksy, and moved in a quiet yet bustling manner. He was usually found sitting astride a pony, following and watching his horses.
Connections
In 1903 Benjamin Allyn Jones married Etta McLaughlin; they had two children.
Father:
Horace Jones
cattle rancher and banker
Mother:
Julia Allyn
teacher
collaborator:
Herbert M. Woolf
American businessman and Thoroughbred racehorse owner.
