Birth Date: Monday, April 21, 1930
Birth Place: Islip, N.Y.

Career: Known as “The Chief” and “The Giant Killer,” Jerkens has been a regular in the Gulfstream barn area for seven decades ... Jerkens underwent surgery to install a pacemaker in October 2008 ... Jerkens swept two Gulfstream stakes in one day in 2007 with Swap Fliparoo taking the Sabin Handicap and Any Limit scoring the Hurricane Bertie Handicap. It nearly matched the stakes hat-trick he turned on opening day in 2004, which included a score by Puzzlement in the Hal’s Hope Handicap ... Any Limit was still going strong in 2008, winning both the First Flight and Honorable Miss Handicaps in New York ... In 1975, at age 45, he became, at the time, the youngest trainer inducted into the Hall of Fame, two years after winning the Eclipse Award. He was a four-time leading trainer in New York (1957, 1962, 1966 and 1969) and was named Outstanding Trainer by the New York Turf Writers Association five times. He trained Sky Beauty to an Eclipse as top older filly or mare in 1994 and was voted United Thoroughbred Trainers of America’s Trainer of Year in 1992. He earned “The Giant Killer” moniker for his knack of beating heavy favorites in stakes races, from Beau Purple’s three upsets of Kelso in 1962 and 1963, to beating Secretariat twice in 1973, once with Onion in the Whitney, once with Prove Out in the Woodward. He has also sent out runners to defeat Hall of Famers Buckpasser, Riva Ridge, Cicada and Skip Away. More recently he shocked odds-on Belterra with longshot Dust Me Off in the 2002 Bonnie Miss Stakes at Gulfstream.   Other: Introduced to racing through father, who owned a riding academy on Long Island ... Had his first winner, Populace, at Aqueduct, July 4, 1950. Other standouts trained by Jerkens include Handsome Boy, Sensitive Prince, Kelly Kip, Classy Mirage, Banker’s Gold and Aptostar ... "H" stands for the seldom-used “Harry.”