View source for Frank Y. Whiteley Jr.

{{Infobox horseracing personality
|image=
|name  = Frank Whiteley Jr.
||caption  =
|occupation  = [[Horse trainer|Trainer]]
|birth_place = [[Centreville, Maryland]], [[United States|USA]]
|birth_date  =  January 31, 1915
|death_date  =  May 2, 2008 (age 93)
|career wins  = 848
|race  = [[Cowdin Stakes]] (1963, 1964)<br>[[Tremont Stakes]] (1963)<br>[[Vagrancy Handicap]] (1963)<br>[[American Derby]] (1965, 1967)<br>[[Arlington Classic]] (1965)<br>[[Aqueduct Handicap]] (1966, 1967, 1968)<br>[[Dwyer Stakes]] (1967, 1972)<br>[[Jockey Club Gold Cup]] (1967)<br>[[Travers Stakes]] (1967)<br>[[Wood Memorial Stakes]] (1967)<br>[[Woodward Stakes]] (1967, 1976, 1977)<br>[[Brooklyn Handicap]] (1968, 1976)<br>[[Malibu Stakes]] (1968)<br>[[Carter Handicap]] (1969, 1970)<br>[[Long Island Handicap]] (1973)<br>[[Astoria Stakes]] (1974)<br>[[Fashion Stakes]] (1974)<br>[[Spinaway Stakes]] (1974)<br>[[Acorn Stakes]] (1975)<br>[[Coaching Club American Oaks]] (1975)<br>[[Comely Stakes]] (1975)<br>[[Fall Highweight Handicap]] (1975)<br>[[Mother Goose Stakes]] (1975)<br>[[Marlboro Cup Invitational Handicap]] (1976)<br>[[Metropolitan Handicap]] (1976, 1977)<br/>
'''[[Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing (United States)|U.S. Triple Crown]] series:'''<br>[[Preakness Stakes]] (1965, 1967)<br>[[Belmont Stakes]] (1967)
|awards =
|honours  = [[National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame|United States' Racing Hall of Fame]] (1978)<br>[[South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame]] (1998)<br>[[Order of the Palmetto]] (2003)<br>''Frank Whiteley Day'', [[Camden, South Carolina]] (2003)
|horses  = [[Tom Rolfe]], [[Chieftain (horse)|Chieftain]], [[Damascus (horse)|Damascus]], [[Forego]], [[Northernette]], [[Ruffian (horse)|Ruffian]]
|updated = May 25, 2007
}}
'''Frank Yewell Whiteley Jr.''' (January 31, 1915 &ndash; May 2, 2008) was a [[National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame|Hall of Fame]] [[Thoroughbred]] [[horse racing|racehorse]] [[horse trainer|trainer]].
Born and raised on a [[farm]] in [[Centreville, Maryland]], Whiteley grew up around horses and from a very early age was intent on racing them. Developing his skills, by age twenty-one he had embarked on a professional training career in his home state. He retired forty-nine years later having trained some of the most famous American racehorses of the second half of the 20th century.
==U. S. Triple Crown series==
Whiteley's first [[Eclipse Award|Champion]] was [[Tom Rolfe]], who gave him his first win in the [[Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing (United States)|U.S. Triple Crown]] series in 1965 when [[Ron Turcotte]] rode him to victory in the [[Preakness Stakes]]. In 1967, Whitelely had his second Champion in [[Damascus (horse)|Damascus]], who won two more of the Classics and was voted the 1967 [[American Horse of the Year]]. Long reticent about talking to the media, leading up to the 1967 [[Kentucky Derby]], Whiteley finally gave in as a result of all the hoopla surrounding Damascus. According to a ''[[New York Post]]'' newspaper article, "The first question was 'How did Damascus sleep last night?' To which Whiteley replied, 'How the hell would I know? I didn’t sleep with him.' Then he turned and walked back into the barn." [https://web.archive.org/web/20080506142840/http://blogs.nypost.com/sports/hr/archives/2007/05/index.html]
==Ruffian==
For the 1974 racing season, Whiteley conditioned the horse with which he was most famously associated. [[Ruffian (horse)|Ruffian]] is considered by many as not only one of the greatest American [[filly|fillies]] of all time but one of the greatest American Thoroughbreds of either sex. Undefeated as a two-year-old, she was voted the [[Eclipse Award]] as the 1974 [[American Champion Two-Year-Old Filly|U.S. Champion Filly]] and earned another Eclipse Award in 1975 when she captured the [[Triple Tiara of Thoroughbred Racing|U.S. Triple Tiara]]. The filly set or equaled a race record in her ten consecutive wins. In her eleventh and final race, a [[match race]] at [[Belmont Park]] on July 6, 1975, she went up against that year's [[Kentucky Derby]] winner, [[Foolish Pleasure]]. With a crowd of more than fifty thousand watching from the grandstand and millions watching on national television, Ruffian had a half-length lead on the [[Colt (horse)|colt]] when both [[sesamoid bone]]s in her right foreleg snapped. Despite surgery, she had to be [[Animal euthanasia|euthanized]].
Actor [[Sam Shepard]] played the role of  Whiteley in the [[television movie|made-for-television movie]] ''[[Ruffian (film)|Ruffian]]'' which aired June 9, 2007, on the [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] television network. [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0499558/]
==Forego==
In 1976, Whiteley took over the training of six-year-old champion [[Forego]] and guided the [[gelding]] to his third straight Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year and [[Eclipse Award for Outstanding Older Male Horse|Outstanding Older Male Horse]] title. In 1977, he conditioned Forego for another successful season that saw him earn his fourth consecutive  Eclipse Award for Outstanding Older Male Horse.
Whiteley was inducted in the [[National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame]] in 1978 and in 1998 to the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame. Beginning in 1965, he wintered his horses at [[Marion duPont Scott|Marion duPont Scott's]] training Center in [[Camden, South Carolina]], which set a trend with other horsemen that continues to this day. In recognition of his contribution to the Thoroughbred racing industry and the economy of the city of Camden, in 2003 the city council honored him with "Frank Whiteley Day" and awarded him a key to the city. In addition, that same year the Governor of South Carolina awarded him the [[Order of the Palmetto]], South Carolina's highest civilian honor. The "Frank Whiteley Room" at the Camden Archive houses a permanent collection founded in his honor.
Whiteley's son, [[David A. Whiteley|David]], followed in his footsteps as a successful trainer of a number of [[graded stakes race]] winners. Whiteley died in [[Camden, South Carolina]], on May 2, 2008.
==References==
* [http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/national-news/2003/November/25/Whiteley-honored-but-unable-to-attend-South-Carolina-ceremony.aspx November 25, 2003 Thoroughbred Times article on South Carolina honors for Frank Whiteley]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20061008222534/http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/trainer.asp?ID=300 Frank Whiteley Jr. at the United States' Racing Hall of Fame]
* [http://www.colinsghost.org/2008/09/damascus-and-frank-whiteley-1967.html Frank Whiteley and Damascus, 1967]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whiteley, Frank Y. Jr.}}
[[Category:1915 births]]
[[Category:2008 deaths]]
[[Category:American racehorse trainers]]
[[Category:United States Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame inductees]]
[[Category:People from Camden, South Carolina]]
[[Category:People from Centreville, Maryland]]