The Chief – A True Legend
As many of you know, Hall of Fame and former Centennial trainer, H. Allen Jerkens, passed away on Wednesday, March 18 surrounded by his family. The Chief, as he was known to all, trained for Centennial at its inception in 1982. He was instrumental in helping create Centennial’s reputation as one of the leading partnership organizations in the country. He trained all of our early stakes winners, most notably, Aptostar and Topicount completing a Centennial exacta in the G1 Acorn. Nordance was our first Graded stakes winning colt who eventually sold to a notable stud farm in England.
There will be a memorial service for H. Allen Jerkens at the Sport of Kings Theatre at Gulfstream Park at 11 a.m. (EDT) Tuesday, March 24. At a later time there may be another memorial in New York.
“I remember the first time I met Allen, on the polo field actually” reflects Don Little, Jr. “A large, intimidating player but a gentle, kind man with a wisdom of horses like no one I have ever met. He will be respectfully remembered by myself and all of us at Centennial.”
