John W. Jacobs, a son of Hall of Fame trainer Hirsch Jacobs who won two Triple Crown races with horses bred in partnership by his father, died Wednesday at his home in Key Biscayne, Fla., surrounded by family members, according to his family. Jacobs, who had been suffering from a long illness, was 89.
Jacobs began working for his father in 1957, three years after Hirsch Jacobs had been elected to the Hall of Fame. In 1970, Hirsch Jacobs died in February, and the horses in the stable were transferred to John, including two top 3-year-olds, Personality and High Echelon.
Both had strong reputations going into the Kentucky Derby, and the entry was made the second choice in the betting that year. High Echelon ran third, and Personality ran eighth, but Personality returned two weeks later to win the Preakness Stakes, with High Echelon in fourth.
Although Personality developed a fever prior to the Belmont Stakes, High Echelon won the third leg of the Triple Crown, giving John Jacobs a double in the 1970 series, just four months after taking over the training officially from his father.
Personality, who beat older horses in the 1970 Woodward Stakes, was later named Horse of the Year by the Thoroughbred Racing Associations. Daily Racing Form, which at that time ran a rival poll, named him runner-up to Fort Marcy.
Barbara Jacobs, John Jacob’s wife of 50 years, said that Hirsch Jacobs had called John to his bedside while gravely ill in a Florida hospital in February 1970. John Jacobs could not understand the word his father whispered into his ear, so he asked him to repeat himself.
“’Blinkers,’” Barbara Jacobs said. “He told John, ‘Blinkers.’ So John put blinkers on Personality, and that was the difference.”
Jacobs trained the family horses, including those bred and owned by his sister, Patrice Wolfson, and her husband, until 1975. He retired and turned to the bloodstock business.
Barbara Jacobs said that John’s main clients were Japanese Thoroughbred owners and breeders, along with clients in Latin America and Brazil. For the next 25 years, he traveled throughout the United States from his homes on Long Island and in Florida to attend the sales at Keeneland and in New York, while also staying in Saratoga Springs for the summer meet.
“He would never mark a horse up beyond what they should be,” Barbara said. “He was very proud of that. And that’s because he always said, ‘If the horses do good for my clients, they’ll bring me more business.’ He had a wonderful attitude.”
He retired from the bloodstock business in 2002 after a stroke limited his mobility, Barbara said.
In addition to his wife, John Jacobs is survived by a son, John Williams Jacobs, and a daughter, Jennifer Jacobs; and his sister Patrice. He was preceded in death by his brother Tommy.