International wins: Woodbine Oaks (2017)Queen's Plate (2017) Crown Prince Cup (2023) James A. Jerkens (born January 24, 1959, in Bay Shore, New York) is an American Thoroughbred horse trainer currently training in Saudi Arabia.
[3] Jerkens started learning horsemanship from his father at the age of 11, working part-time mucking out stalls and acting as a hot walker.
[5] In 1977, he graduated from Walt Whitman High School in Huntington Station, New York, and became an assistant trainer to his father.
'"[7] Jerkens' star horse in 2015 was Effinex, who won the Suburban and Clark Handicaps and finished second to American Pharoah in the Breeders' Cup Classic.
"[9] Jerkens announced in April 2023 that he would move to Saudi Arabia, where he accepted a two-year contract to train 50 to 60 horses for Faisal bin Khalid Al Saud.
Jerkens said that his training business in the United States was not good in the last three years, and that he had built up a lot of debt.
[10] On August 5, 2023, Jerkens won his first race in Saudi Arabia with a horse named Honky Tonk Man.
A week later on December 16 Jerkens won his first Saudi (G1) race taking the Crown Prince Cup with My Frankel.