Sport: Horse Racing
Born: May 6, 1914
Died: July 12, 1976
Lakewood, New Jersey
James Stout was born May 6, 1914 in Lakewood, NJ to Julia and Harry Stout. The Stout family name stretches back centuries in New Jersey to Penelope Stout, who lived with the Lenape people after being shipwrecked on Sandy Hook in the 1600s. Jimmy (he went by “Jamie” as a boy) picked potatoes in the summer to help make ends meet and soaked up some carpentry skills from his father. Jimmy went to work at thoroughbred stables in South Jersey as a teenager during the Depression and rose from stable boy to apprentice jockey by the time he was 20.
In 1935, Jimmy rode a colt named Seabiscuit, the horse that would go on to become a legend. Meanwhile, Jimmy began building his own legend in the mid-1930s, riding 111 winners that year, then taking the prestigious 1936 Champlain Handicap atop Count Arthur and also finishing first in the Traves Stakes, Saratoga Cup and Jockey Club Gold Cup. All four races were run at Saratoga Springs.
That year Jimmy’s career nearly ended when he was thrown from Granville at the start of the Kentucky Derby. He got back on the horse to finish second in the Preakness and then won the Belmont for his first of four Triple Crown victories. Granville was named Horse of the Year for 1936. In 1938, Jimmy won the Wood Memorial on Fighting Fox and the Belmont on Pasteurized. In 1939, he successfully defended both titles atop Johnstown. He also rode Johnstown to victory in the Kentucky Derby.
Jimmy was the ace jockey for Belair Stud—a farm that dated back to colonial times—and Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons, one of the sport’s most successful trainers. Belair’s horses won countless major races, including the Triple Crown in 1930 (Gallant Fox) and 1935 (Omaha). Fitzsimmons originally purchased Jimmy’s contract for $1,000.
Jimmy continued to be a top jockey during the 1940s and into the early 1950s. In 1944 at Aqueduct, Jimmy was part of thoroughbred history when his horse, Bousset, was part of a triple dead heat in the Carter Handicap on a day of racing to raise money for the war effort. Jimmy was the leading rider four years straight at Monmouth Park after the state approved horseracing in 1946. His last major win was the Oceanport Handicap in 1953 atop Cinda.
In 1954, Jimmy retired with more than 2,000 wins—over 15% of his races. He stayed in the sport as a race official. Jimmy was inducted into the Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 1968 and died of a heart attack eight years later at 62 while working as a track steward at Penn National Race Course in Grantville.