William B. Finnegan

William B. Finnegan
William B. Finnegan
Occupation	Trainer
Born	September 19, 1890; New York City, New York,; United States
Died	October 18, 1970 (aged 80)
Major racing wins
	California Breeders' Champion Stakes ; (1936, 1963); Escondido Handicap (1937); San Diego Handicap (1937); La Jolla Mile (1938, 1969); Hollywood Derby (1939); Hollywood Gold Cup (1941); McLennan Handicap (1941); Washington Park Handicap (1941); Widener Challenge Cup (1941); Bahamas Stakes (1946); Fashion Stakes (1947); Bing Crosby Handicap (1950, 1959); Del Mar Handicap (1952); Questionnaire Handicap (1953); Del Mar Futurity (1954); Starlet Stakes (1954); La Jolla Handicap (1955); San Felipe Stakes (1955, 1959, 1964); San Gabriel Handicap (1956, 1963); Santa Monica Handicap (1957); Californian Stakes (1958); San Carlos Handicap (1958); Santa Anita Oaks (1958); Oceanside Handicap (1959); San Vicente Stakes (1959); Los Angeles Handicap (1960); Malibu Stakes (1960); Palos Verdes Handicap (1960); San Marcos Stakes (1961); Derby Trial Stakes (1964); Forerunner Stakes (1964); Santa Anita Derby (1964); Man o' War Stakes (1965); San Fernando Stakes (1965); Santa Anita Handicap (1965); San Antonio Handicap (1966); Sunset Handicap (1967); Del Mar Oaks (1968); El Encino Stakes (1968); Ramona Handicap (1969)
Significant horses
	Big Pebble, Count Turf, Hill Rise

Last updated July 03, 2023

William B. Finnegan (September 19, 1890 - October 18, 1970) was an American Thoroughbred horse racing trainer.

A native of New York City, Finnegan spent more than fifty years as a trainer primarily on the West Coast of the United States.^[1] During his career he conditioned horses for major stable owners such as Vera S. Bragg,^[2] movie mogul Louis B. Mayer, Walter P. Chrysler Jr.,^[3] Edward S. Moore's Circle M Ranch stable,^[4] George A. Pope, Jr.'s El Peco Ranch,^[5] and Neil S. McCarthy who would name one of his horses in his honor.^[6]

Following its opening in December 1929, Finnegan was racing at Agua Caliente Racetrack in Tijuana, Mexico. ^[7] Racing in California, where he would make his home in Arcadia near Santa Anita Park, Finnegan won the 1939 Hollywood Derby with Shining One who equalled the Hollywood Park track record. ^[8] In 1940, he took over as the trainer of Big Pebble after the four-year-old was purchased by client, Edward S. Moore. Raced by his former owner at age two and three, Big Pebble showed little and had even been used as a lead pony. Under Finnegan in 1941, Big Pebble blossomed into the best older horse in the United States. En route to being named American Champion Older Male Horse, Big Pebble's wins included the most important and richest race in Florida, the Widener Challenge Cup at Hialeah Park Race Track ^[9] and the prestigious Hollywood Gold Cup at California's Hollywood Park Racetrack.^[10]

In October 1951, that year's Kentucky Derby winner Count Turf was sent to Bill Finnegan to race in California but met with little success. ^[11] Thirteen years late, Finnegan would have the betting favorite going into the 1964 U.S. Triple Crown series with George A. Pope, Jr.'s colt, Hill Rise. The winner of eight straight races,^[12] including the Santa Anita Derby by six lengths in record time ^[13] and the Derby Trial by more than two lengths,^[14] Hill Rise ran second to Northern Dancer in the Kentucky Derby ^[15] and third to him in the Preakness Stakes.^[16] The following year Hill Rise won several important races for Finnegan including the Man o' War Stakes, San Fernando Stakes and Santa Anita Handicap and at age five in 1966, the San Antonio Handicap.

William Finnegan continued to train horses until his death in 1970 at age eighty. He is buried in the Live Oak Memorial Park Cemetery in Monrovia, California. ^[17]

Related Research Articles

Santa Anita Park is a Thoroughbred racetrack in Arcadia, California, United States. It offers some of the prominent horse racing events in the United States during early fall, winter and in spring. The track is home to numerous prestigious races including both the Santa Anita Derby and the Santa Anita Handicap as well as hosting the Breeders' Cup in 1986, 1993, 2003, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2019, and 2023. In 1984, Santa Anita was the site of equestrian events at the 1984 Olympics. Since 2011, the Stronach Group are the current owners.

Hollywood Park was a thoroughbred race course located in Inglewood, California, about 3 miles (5 km) from Los Angeles International Airport and adjacent to the Forum indoor arena. In 1994, the original Hollywood Park Casino was added to the racetrack complex. Horse racing and training were shut down in December 2013 though the casino operations continued until a new state of the art casino building, the new Hollywood Park Casino, opened in October 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles E. Whittingham</span> American racehorse trainer (1913–1999)

Charles Edward Whittingham was an American Thoroughbred race horse trainer who is one of the most acclaimed trainers in U.S. racing history.

The Hollywood Derby is a Grade I American Thoroughbred horse race held annually in late November/early December. Now held at Del Mar racetrack in San Diego, California, until 2014 it was held at Hollywood Park Racetrack in Inglewood, California. The race is open to horses aged three and contested at a mile and an eighth on turf. It currently offers a purse of $300,000.

Lava Man is an American Thoroughbred racehorse who was once claimed for $50,000 but wound up being inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2015. In a forty-seven race career, despite finishing off the board while losing all 5 of his races outside California, he won seventeen times with his major victories including three Hollywood Gold Cups, two Santa Anita Handicaps and the Pacific Classic Stakes.

Swaps was a California bred American thoroughbred racehorse. He won the Kentucky Derby in 1955 and was named United States Horse of the Year in the following year. He was known as the "California Comet," and occasionally with affection, due to his wins despite numerous injuries and treatments, the "California Cripple."

Thomas Wallace Dunn was a Canadian-born Thoroughbred horse trainer.

Count Turf was a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 1951 Kentucky Derby. His grandsire Reigh Count won the 1928 Kentucky Derby and his sire Count Fleet won the 1943 Kentucky Derby and went on to win the Triple Crown. The only other father/son/grandson combination to win the Kentucky Derby was Pensive, Ponder, and Needles.

Victor Espinoza is a jockey in American Thoroughbred horse racing who won the Triple Crown in 2015 on American Pharoah. He began riding in his native Mexico and went on to compete at racetracks in California. He has won the Kentucky Derby three times, riding War Emblem in 2002, California Chrome in 2014, and American Pharoah in 2015. He also won the Preakness Stakes three times, in those same years and with the same horses. He was the first jockey in history to enter the Belmont Stakes with a third opportunity to win the Triple Crown; his 2015 victory made him the oldest jockey and first Hispanic jockey to accomplish the feat.

Noble Winfield Threewitt was an American Thoroughbred racehorse trainer who conditioned horses for seventy-five years before retiring on his ninety-sixth birthday. The city of Arcadia, California, home to Santa Anita Racetrack, declared February 24, 2007 to be "Noble Threewitt Day."

W-L Ranch Co. was an American Thoroughbred horse racing and breeding partnership between Hollywood film studio executive Harry M. Warner and film director Mervyn LeRoy. Warner's daughter, Doris, was married to Mervyn LeRoy.

Providential was an Irish-born Thoroughbred racehorse who competed successfully in France and won the most important race on turf in the United States. Bred and raced by Bertram R. Firestone, he was sired by Run the Gantlet, the 1971 American Champion Male Turf Horse and a son of Tom Rolfe, the 1965 Preakness Stakes winner and American Champion Three-Year-Old Male Horse. His dam was Prudent Girl, a daughter of Primera who raced in England where he won back-to-back editions of the Princess of Wales's Stakes in 1959–1960.

Big Pebble was an American Thoroughbred Champion racehorse.

Juan Paco Gonzalez is an American Thoroughbred horse racing trainer.

Andrew Joseph Crevolin was an American businessman and Thoroughbred racehorse owner in California whose horse won the 1954 Santa Anita and Kentucky Derbys.

Reginald "Reggie" Cornell was a Thoroughbred horse racing trainer who competed in his native Canada before working for many years in the United States.

Sandpit (1989–2003) was a Brazilian Champion Thoroughbred racehorse that also met with considerable success racing in the United States. In a career that lasted from 1992 until 1997, he ran forty times and won fourteen races.

Clyde Turk was an American jockey and trainer of thoroughbred racehorses. He began riding horses in the 1920s and in 1929 was riding at the new Agua Caliente Racetrack in Tijuana, Mexico. He competed at tracks throughout California and at the newly built Santa Anita Racetrack in Arcadia, California he rode the first-ever winner for trainer Noble Threewitt during the opening season in which he would also win important races such as the San Felipe Stakes and Santa Margarita Handicap, the latter a race he would win three more times as a trainer.

Kostroma was an Irish-bred Thoroughbred racehorse who competed successfully in Ireland as well as in the United States, where she set a world record for a mile and an eighth on turf at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California.

Lester Anthony Balaski was an American Thoroughbred horse racing jockey, a soldier who served his country during World War II, and a founding director and a First Vice-President of the Jockeys' Guild who died as a result of injuries suffered in an August 22, 1964, racing accident at Agua Caliente Racetrack in Mexico. A resident of Chula Vista, California, he had been transported from the racetrack to Mercy Hospital in San Diego, California where he died ten days later.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] Los Angeles Times - October 19, 1970

[2] Los Angeles Times - December 26, 1936

[3] Chicago Tribune - May 9, 1943

[4] Los Angeles Times - July 14, 1939

[5] Lawrence Journal-World (Kansas) - April 17, 1964

[6] New York Times - May 22, 1960

[7] New York Times - March 12, 1931

[8] The Sunday Morning Star (Wilmingtpon, Delaware) - July 9, 1939

[9] New York Times - March 2, 1941

[10] St. Petersburg Times - July 20, 1941

[11] Los Angeles Times - October 19, 1951 article titled "Bill Finnegan Named Trainer of Count Turf"

[12] Sarasota Herald-Tribune - April 29, 1964

[13] The Modesto Bee - March 1, 1964

[14] The Spokesman-Review - April 29, 1964

[15] The Miami News - May 3, 1964 article titled "Dancer Wins Fastest Derby Hill Rise Finishes 2nd"

[16] The Deseret News - May 19, 1964

[17] The Miami News - October 19, 1970 obituary

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

[17]