Thomas J. Healey (July 16, 1866 - October 7, 1944) was an AmericanThoroughbred horse racingHall of Fametrainer.
Regularly referred to as "T. J." by both his associates and the media,[1] Healey was born near the site ofFordham University inFordham,New York. Growing up he worked on his father'sdairy farm but rather than cows, his interests centered on Thoroughbred horses. While in his teens he took a job at a racetrack stable and by his early twenties had already begun training horses. In 1888, atBrooklyn'sGravesend Race Track, he saddled the first winner of his fifty-four-year career. For the next eighteen years he ran one of the largest public stables in the United States but in 1896 became the trainer for the Montpelier Stable ofRichard T. Wilson, Jr., president ofSaratoga Race Course.[2] Among the notable horses he trained for Wilson's stable were:
At the turn of the century, Healey trained horses for several prominent owners. Among them wereAndrew Miller andWalter J. Salmon, Sr. Healey won his third Preakness Stakes with Salmon, Sr.'s coltVigil in 1923. During the 1920s and into the first part of the 1930s, T. J. Healey also trained horses owned byWalter and Sarah Jeffords. For them, he won his fourth and fifth Preakness Stakes with:
Richard T. Wilson, Jr. died in December 1929 and Healey was hired byHarry Payne Whitney[3] and his son,Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney.[4] Over a four-year period, T. J. Healey won a record $1,453,868 with Whitney runners. Among the most famous horses he race conditioned for Whitney were:
Thomas J. Healey retired from training in 1941 after which he served as a steward for the New Jersey State Racing Association. He died at age 78 on October 7, 1944.[5] Following its formation atSaratoga Springs, New York, in 1955 Thomas J. Healey was part of the inaugural class of inductees to theU.S. Racing Hall of Fame.[6]
At the time of his death, Thomas J. Healey and his wife Margaret had five daughters and a son, John A. Healey. Known as Jack, the younger Healey worked as an assistant with his father and often was responsible for overseeing a string of racehorses competing at tracks outside their New York/New Jersey base.[7] When the newSanta Anita Park opened inArcadia, California in 1935, Jack Healey was sent with a string of horses by stable owner C. V. Whitney to compete there during the winter racing season. Jack Healey won the 1935San Carlos Handicap,San Gabriel Handicap, andSan Vicente Stakes.
Jack Healey made his home at Boxwood Farm inCockeysville, Maryland. After his father's retirement, he was hired by Harry & Jane du Pont Lunger ofWilmington, Delaware to take charge of theirChristiana Stables. Less than two months after he won the 1947Modesty Stakes atWashington Park Race Track inChicago,[8] Jack Healey fell ill and died at age forty-three on September 8, 1947, atJohns Hopkins Hospital inBaltimore, Maryland .[9]