David Jacobson, former leading NYRA trainer, making comeback
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- David Jacobson is attempting another comeback.
Out of the sport for almost four years and gravely ill for a period of that time, Jacobson, the leading trainer on the New York Racing Association circuit from 2012-14, is back training. He purchased four horses at the Fasig-Tipton Horses of Racing Age sale in Lexington on July 11 and on July 16 he claimed a horse for $40,000 at Saratoga.
“A real opportunity to do something that I’m good at -- be outside working and working with horses,” Jacobson said in a phone interview. “Everybody seems to be complaining about these new rules and all of that but I don’t see anything that bad about it. It’s all good stuff to protect the horses. I think it’ll be helpful to racing and I want to be a part of it.”
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Jacobson was referring to the new rules associated with the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, which went into effect on July 2 and is seeking to make uniform rules in throughout the sport.
Jacobson, 67, is the son of the controversial horseman Howard “Buddy” Jacobson and the great nephew of the Hall of Fame trainer Hirsch Jacobs. From 2007 through 2018, David Jacobson had won 1,177 races and his horses earned $44.7 million.
Prior to that, Jacobson had had been out of the sport for 25 years. In 1982, New York state racing regulators revoked Jacobson’s license, accusing him of failing to provide the horse Hugable Tom with adequate food and medical attention, though Jacobson has denied that was the case. Hugable Tom had to be euthanized due to laminitis.
From 2012 to 2014, no trainer won more races at NYRA than Jacobson. In 2013, he set a NYRA single-year record for wins with 164. Known primarily as a claiming trainer, Jacobson turned former claimers Strapping Groom and Saginaw into multiple stakes winners. Strapping Groom won the Grade 1 Forego. Saginaw, a New York-bred, won 10 stakes, before he suffered a fatal injury during the running of a race at Saratoga in 2013. Jacobson also won six stakes with Salutos Amigos including the Grade 1 Carter.
In 2018, Jacobson moved his operation out of New York to California. By the end of 2018, he had retired from training altogether, saying that New York racing had disrespected the smaller outfits. Jacobson said he has a good working relationship with Frank Gabriel, NYRA’s senior vice president of racing operations.
In October 2019, Jacobson became gravely ill. His intestines erupted and he was hospitalized for nearly three weeks. At one point, doctors weren’t sure Jacobson was going to survive.
“It could have gone either way,” he said. “They called my son [Howard], he was living in California, and they told him to get on the next plane and get all my affairs in order. They gave me a 40 percent chance. It took several days for them to get me out of the ICU.”
It was a long road back for Jacobson. He said his body weight dropped to 113 pounds.
“You look at pictures and you say holy [crap],” Jacobson said. “I couldn’t walk. I had to have all kinds of therapy to get everything back, even my brain. I remember being in the hospital and they’re asking me questions and I’m thinking I got to get these questions right so they’ll let me out.”
In addition to his intestinal issues, COVID hit in March 2020. That kept Jacobson at home for months. Even when he needed another operation, he had to wait owing to COVID. He finally had that surgery in 2021.
“I’m like an old car with new parts,” Jacobson said.
Jacobson, who says he now weighs 155 pounds, had said in November 2019 that he wanted to get back into training. When well enough earlier this year, Jacobson said he contacted some of his previous owners who expressed interest in giving him horses. He also has picked up a new client, Todd Weir’s BlueBella Stable, which is the outfit that claimed North Pole, an 0-for-10 maiden, on Sunday.
Among the four horses he bought at Fasig-Tipton was Greeley and Ben, an 8-year-old gelding who has won 20 of 34 starts. Milano, a 5-year-old son of Into Mischief; Charles Chrome, a 4-year-old gelding who has won twice; and Genesis One, an unraced 3-year-old Medaglia d’Oro colt were the others.
Jacobson is stabled at Belmont Park and he hired one of his previous assistants, Francis Chiumiento, to help him. Unfortunately, Doug Jacobson, David’s brother and a former assistant, died earlier this year.
“Coming up to Saratoga without Doug, it’s going to take a while to get over that,” Jacobson said. “I really miss him a lot.”
Jacobson said he hopes to have his first starters by the latter part of the Saratoga meet. He doesn’t expect to build his stable as big as it was a decade ago when he had about 90 horses in training.
“I’ll probably wind up with 20 to 30 horses,” Jacobson said.
Jacobson said he has been heartened by the reaction of his fellow horsemen upon his return.
“All the horsemen across the board have been very receptive to me coming back. It makes me feel good,” Jacobson said.