Warren A. "Jimmy" Croll, Jr.

Biography

Jimmy Croll trained Hall of Fame members Holy Bull and Housebuster, as well as Belmont Stakes winner Bet Twice and champions Forward Gal and Parka.

After finishing high school, Croll attended the University of Pennsylvania with the intention of becoming a veterinarian but left to pursue his passion for training racehorses. He began his training career in 1940, but it was soon interrupted by service with the United States Army during World War II.

Croll won his first stakes race in 1951 with War Phar and conditioned his first champion, Parka, in 1965. Parka was named Champion Male Turf Horse. Five years later, Forward Gal was named Champion 2-Year-Old Filly while under Croll’s care. Forward Gal won the Frizette, Sorority, and Spinaway Stakes in 1970, and added the Monmouth Oaks and Comely the following year.

In 1987, Croll won his lone Triple Crown race with multiple stakes winner Bet Twice, who denied Alysheba the Triple Crown with a 14-length victory in the Belmont. Three years later, Housebuster won the first of back-to-back Eclipse Awards for Champion Sprinter for Croll, but the best was still to come.

Croll trained for Rachel Carpenter for 37 years. At the time of her death in 1993, Carpenter owned Holy Bull, who was unraced at the time. Just a few hours before the 2-year-old colt made his career debut, Croll was notified that Carpenter had bequeathed him seven horses, including Holy Bull. Named Horse of the Year and Champion 3-Year-Old Male in 1994, Holy Bull won 13 of 16 career starts, including the Florida Derby, Blue Grass Stakes, Metropolitan Handicap, Haskell Invitational, Travers Stakes, and Woodward Stakes.

After more than 60 years as a trainer, Croll retired in 2002 with 1,909 wins to his credit.

Achievements

Triple Crown Highlights

Won the 1987 Belmont Stakes — Bet Twice