Bonnie Jenne, one of the most beloved and tenured trainers in Washington horse racing history, died on June 26 of lymphoma. She was 76.
Jenne's Friendship Stable was a modest family operation. She saddled 15 stakes winners at Emerald Downs since its 1996 inception, including Ladyledue, the state champion filly of 2008; and multiple stakes winner Couldabenthewhisky, who won the Gottstein Futurity and was honored as Washington's champion 2-year-old male in 2010. She finished her career with 472 victories and earnings of $4,183,831.
Bonnie Jenne was born on Dec. 30, 1948, near Kalispell, Montana, where she traveled the fair circuit with her dad, a horse trainer. She met her future husband, Wally, as a teenager in Central Washington, and they eventually bought a house across the street from Yakima Meadows, where her father, Ed Lewis, won training titles in 1977 and 1978.
Jenne got her start as a lead trainer in 1976 at Portland Meadows, where she won her first race before shifting the bulk of her operations to Longacres in suburban Seattle and Yakima Meadows. After those tracks closed, she moved her tack to Emerald and never left.
"Not only was she one of the best friends I've ever had, but her accomplishments on the track were remarkable," said Thoroughbred owner Craig Frederickson, a longtime Jenne client. "When you look at how many stakes winners she had from such a small stable, it's pretty impressive. If there was a good horse from our barn, it was gonna succeed with her. I always felt she didn't get enough credit for doing so much with such a small barn."
Jenne trained horses for Frederickson and his partners for a quarter century. Of his first meeting with Jenne, Frederickson recalled, "After talking about five minutes, we both looked at each other and joked, 'We're gonna have fun together, aren't we?' She ended up being one of the best friends I ever had. It was pretty special. I wasn't a big-money owner coming in here, and Bonnie and Wally would joke, 'Well, we're not a big-money barn, so you'll fit right in.'"
Frederickson said that one of the things Jenne taught him was how to pick a good, young, relatively inexpensive horse.
"I'd ask them to check the wheels and tell me what I'm missing," he said. "They were really, really good at that. We had some really good horses and, amazingly, didn't spend a lot of money to get some of the best ones. It gave me a golden opportunity to have a lot of good horses I didn't know I would be able to have. The $10,000 mark was pretty high for us and we got some good ones for that price."
Jenne's husband Wally, who was Emerald Downs's former track superintendent, died in 2020. She is survived by her daughter Kandie Molloy, who owns horses at the Auburn, Washington, track; her son, Craig Jenne, who works in construction and lives in the Tri-Cities area; and three grandchildren.
Jenne was an indispensable resource for her peers.
"Our families were very close and more like family than just friends," trainer Kay Cooper said. "After Wally passed, Bonnie became more involved in our family because she needed someone to fill the void, so she wasn't alone. Both Wally and her loved life, they loved their family - worked hard, played harder."
"Bonnie meant a lot to everybody down here. She was just a special person, almost like her own little universe that we were lucky enough to be in," added Debbie Peery, who is among a handful of local trainers who have taken over training horses in Jenne's barn.
"I worked for Bonnie when I was much younger in Yakima. She taught me a lot. Bonnie was an excellent horse person. She didn't pull any punches, but everything she told you, you never took it as an insult. She was a great competitor, but whenever I needed some guidance, I could come to her and talk about things. She always had ideas and never minded sharing them.
"Her and Wally were a power couple. They were fantastic. It's hard for me to imagine this racetrack, being down here without her."
Emerald Downs observed a moment of silence for Jenne during racing on Friday, June 27, and Cooper publicly reminisced about her experiences with her late friend and colleague that evening. Frederickson and Peery are among those who will do the same during a special Thursday night card on July 3.