4/30/26 Barn Notes
Compiled by Robert Yates
Oaklawn’s active training roster featured four octogenarians in April 2023. Soon, there will be none.
Trainer Jinks Fires, 85, said he will retire after saddling House Trick in Friday’s second race, ending a 50-plus year career that produced numerous highs, some excruciating lows and more than 1,500 victories.
Among the most successful trainers in Oaklawn history, Fires said Monday morning that he’s retiring to care for his wife of 48 years, Penny, who has Parkinson’s disease.
“I’ve got to stop,” Fires said from his office in Susan’s Girl, the trainer’s longtime Oaklawn barn. “She’s not doing good. I’m not ready to stop, but I have to.”
Fires follows Oaklawn regulars Don Von Hemel, David Vance and Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas, who all retired in the last three years. Von Hemel and Vance retired in 2023. Lukas died roughly a week after announcing his retirement last June. All three trainers were in their 80s at the time of retirement.
“If you’re broken down on the side of the road, the one person you want to see coming is Jinks because he’ll stop and help you,” Arkansas Racing Commission chairman Alex Lieblong said. “That pretty well sums him up. He’s always been a gentleman in everything we’ve ever done.”
A native of Rivervale, a tiny community in northeast Arkansas, Fires’ prowess as a teenage bull rider in regional rodeos opened the door to a career in Thoroughbred racing. He was discovered by Joseph Hanover, a Memphis, Tenn., attorney who also bred and raced Thoroughbreds.
“He saw how small I was,” Fires said. “He wanted me to break his horses, yearlings.”
That led Fires to Oaklawn in 1959, where he planned to work as a freelance exercise rider. Instead, Fires initially walked hots for trainer Lyle Whiting, the father of 1992 Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Lynn Whiting.
After a short stint with Lyle Whiting, Fires said he finished the 1959 Oaklawn meet galloping horses for trainer Frank Kirby. Fires said he then moved to New Mexico and won his first race as a jockey in 1960 at La Mesa Park.
Fires said his riding career was relatively brief because he became too heavy. He was also drafted into the Army in 1963. Fires was discharged in 1965 and quickly turned to training.
“Actually, my brother Bucky and I had bought a couple of weanlings,” Fires said. “When I got out of the Army, he took one of them and I took the other one and I went to Chicago galloping horses for people. I was galloping and had one horse on my own to train. Wound up taking my trainer’s test and passed it.”
Fires’ training career began in the mid-1960s on the Chicago circuit, with his first victory coming April 22, 1967, at Sportsman’s Park (Hidden Pocket).
As Fires was gaining traction as a trainer (his first Oaklawn victory was Feb. 14, 1969) he lost his stable, 15 horses, in a barn fire in 1970 at Washington Park.
Fires then worked as an exercise rider/assistant for trainer Harold “Baldy” Tinker and three-time Oaklawn training champion Doug Davis Jr. before a career reboot in 1976.
“I stayed six years out of training, just galloping, ponying and working as an assistant for people,” Fires said. “I woke up and my horses burned at midnight. Next day after the water cleared and we kind of looked at everything, all I had was my boots. I started at the bottom and worked my way back up.”
Fires, beginning in 1976, became a training fixture on the Kentucky-Arkansas circuit. His early A-list clients included Arkansas breeder/owners Gus and Patricia Blass, who won the 1973 Travers Stakes (G1) with the Davis-trained Annihilate 'em, a horse Fires galloped.
From 1988-2009, Fires and the Blasses teamed to win Oaklawn stakes races with Isabell's Shoes, Prom Shoes, Pink Shoes, Fun Flight, Tricky Fun and Flight Forty Nine. The Blasses' foundation mare, Fun and Tears, produced Fun Flight and Tricky Fun.
Fires was the first trainer employed by Lieblong and his wife, JoAnn, after they ventured into ownership during the early 1990s as partners with the Blasses. The Lieblongs are now among the most celebrated owners in Oaklawn history.
“Jinks has got a hell of an eye for a fast horse,” said Alex Lieblong, a prominent Arkansas businessman. “He got two of the fastest horses I ever had. One horse was called Mi Buddy and the other was Firststatedeposit. Hell, Firststatedeposit cost $42,000 and Mi Buddy was ($17,000). He’s got a very good eye, but the other thing is he’s extremely honest. Like I say, if you’re broken down, that’s one fellow you keep crossing your fingers for and hope he was coming by.”
Fires recorded his biggest career victory in 2011 when Archarcharch captured the $1 million Arkansas Derby (G1) at Oaklawn for Arkansas owners Val and Bob Yagos.
Archarcharch went off 12-1 in the Kentucky Derby. He finished 15th after emerging from the first leg of the Triple Crown with a career-ending leg injury. Archarcharch marked the first and only Kentucky Derby starter for Fires.
“I’ve had a good career,” Fires said. “I’m not ready to stop, but I have to because of my wife. My health has been real good, so I’m not worried about that. That’s not a problem.”
Fires, who still rides his pony each morning during training hours, retires as the fourth-winningest trainer in Oaklawn history (480 victories, including 30 stakes, entering Thursday). Fires recorded at least one victory at 47 consecutive Oaklawn meetings (1977-2022-2023).
In recognition of his towering career achievements, the national Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association honored Fires as an “HBPA Living Legend” during its annual conference March 3-7 at Oaklawn.
“I just adore him,” jockey Kelsi Harr, an Arkansas native and Oaklawn regular, said several years ago. “He’s an awesome horseman. He’s a legend.”
Fires scaled back his operation in recent years and said his six or so remaining horses will be turned out, sold or sent to trainers Randy Morse and Scott Young. Fires and his wife reside on a five-acre farm about 2 ½ miles from Oaklawn.
“I’ve got a lot of fence building out there at my place to do, so I know that will keep me pretty busy,” Fires said. “I’ll miss training. I’ve got one filly that I entered eight times here and did not get a race to go for her. Finally, she started going a little funny, so I just took her home and I’m going to breed her. I don’t want to stay in the business, but I guess I’ll have to stay in the business if I don’t sell her.”
Fires’ younger brother, retired jockey Earlie Fires, was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2001.
