Born in Ireland, Jim Bentley exercised and rode horses in both steeplechase and Flat racing for a stable run by his father.
In the early 1920s he emigrated to the United States where he found work for Edward R. Bradley's Idle Hour Stock Farm in Lexington, Kentucky.
While at New York state's Saratoga Race Course in 1927 he met Canadian trainer John Dixon who encouraged him to come work for him in Canada.
During that long career, Jim Bentley trained for a number of prominent owners including E. P. Taylor and his son Charles, as well as Arthur Stollery and his wife Helen.
[1][2] Jim Bentley runners Arise, Kennedy Road, and Lauries Dancer would each be inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame.