Post by caveman on Oct 9, 2007 0:31:51 GMT -5
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) - Thoroughbred great John Henry, two-time
Horse of the Year who earned more than $6.5 million before retiring
to the Kentucky Horse Park, was euthanized Monday, the park said.
He was 32.
Park spokeswoman Lisa Jackson said the Hall of Famer's health
had declined over the weekend. He had lost considerable body mass
and was in kidney failure, she said.
"The next step would have been so hard on him," she said. "It
wouldn't have been comfortable. ... It just wouldn't have been fair
to the horse."
He was retired 22 years ago to the park, where he was beloved by
the public and, along with stablemate Cigar, one of the park's
biggest attractions.
Foaled March 9, 1975, and an average runner early in his career,
John Henry was the highest money-earning thoroughbred in history
when he retired in 1985.
The gelded son of Old Bob Bowers out of Once Double won four
Grade I races and Horse of the Year honors at age 6 and 9 and
collected seven Eclipse awards from 1980 through 1984.
To the end, John Henry remained cantankerous, said Cathy Robey,
who runs the park's Hall of Champions, where the horse was stabled.
"He has always been nasty, from day one," Robey said. "John
has always had a little attitude problem. He's like the little guy
with the chip on his shoulder. He has so many people that would
never actually touch him or get near him, but they love him."
"What can I say about the legendary John Henry that has not
already been said," Chris McCarron, who rode John Henry in 14 of
his last races, said in a statement from the park. "John meant the
world to my family and me. Everywhere he raced, his presence
doubled the size of a normal race track crowd. He did so much for
racing, even after he retired, that he will be impossible to
replace. He will be sorely missed but forever in our hearts."
John Henry was loved not for a tremendous talent but because he
was a fighter who would battle not to lose at any cost.
Although he never won a Triple Crown race, he was successful at
the highest levels of competition on the dirt and the turf.
"John Henry was a testament to the fact that a horse's value is
far greater than the sum of his pedigree, conformation, sales price
and race record," park executive director John Nicholson said in
the statement.
In his career John Henry earned 39 victories, 15 seconds and
nine thirds in 83 starts and earned $6,597,947. He was inducted
into thoroughbred racing's Hall of Fame in 1990.
Foaled at Golden Chance Farms in Kentucky in 1975, John Henry
was called "small," "ugly" and "bad-tempered" as a foal. He
was sold at the January mixed sale at Keeneland for $1,100.
He soon became known more for his disposition than his racing
ability, often tearing buckets and tubs of the wall of his stall
and stomping them flat.
He was sold to Harold Snowden of Lexington for $2,200 in 1977.
Snowden chose to geld John Henry with the hope it would calm him
and allow him to focus on racing.
He changed hands two more times until native New Yorker Sam
Rubin and his wife, Dorothy, bought him for $25,000 sight unseen
over the phone. John Henry's new trainer, Bob Donato, thought the
horse would fare well on grass, and John Henry won six of 19 starts
as a 3-year-old.
As a 4-year-old, John Henry won four of 11 races for trainer
Lefty Nickerson. The following year, John Henry was sent to work
with trainer Ron McAnally in California and his career blossomed.
McAnally trained John Henry with "carrots, apples and love,"
the horse park said. He visited during the horse's retirement and
had seen him as recently as September, bringing the animal's
favorite cookies and carrots, the park said. Lewis Cenicola, John
Henrys exercise rider for six years, also visited the horse in
September, the park said.
He won six stakes races in a row as a 5-year-old, including four
Grade I races - the San Luis Rey Stakes, the San Juan Capistrano
Invitational, the Hollywood Invitational and the Oak Tree
Invitational.
That year also saw him claim his first of seven Eclipse awards
as the nation's champion turf horse. He finished the 1980 campaign
with eight victories and three seconds in 12 starts.
John Henry's remarkable run continued for the next four years as
he won 18 of 30 starts. In 1981 alone, he won eight of 10 starts
and was named champion grass horse, champion older horse and horse
of the year.
As a 9-year-old, John Henry won four straight stakes races,
claimed $2.3 million in earnings and again was named champion grass
horse and horse of the year.
He won what proved to be his last race, the Ballantine's Scotch
Classic at the Meadowlands on Oct. 13, 1984. John Henry was
scheduled to run in the inaugural Breeders' Cup Turf Classic that
year, but a strained suspensory ligament kept him on the sidelines.
Rubin planned to race John Henry as a 10-year-old, but changed
his mind in July 1985, after the horse suffered a leg injury during
training.
"If he'd have broken down on the race track, I couldn't have
lived with it," Rubin said at the time.
Tom Levinson, Rubin's stepson, said in the statement that his
mother and Rubin "loved sharing John's victories with his adoring
fans and we appreciate their devotion even to this sad day. ... We
are sure that if Sam Rubin were here today, he and my mother
Dorothy would agree that their wish would be for John Henry to be
remembered as the mighty, cantankerous champion we all loved."
Horse of the Year who earned more than $6.5 million before retiring
to the Kentucky Horse Park, was euthanized Monday, the park said.
He was 32.
Park spokeswoman Lisa Jackson said the Hall of Famer's health
had declined over the weekend. He had lost considerable body mass
and was in kidney failure, she said.
"The next step would have been so hard on him," she said. "It
wouldn't have been comfortable. ... It just wouldn't have been fair
to the horse."
He was retired 22 years ago to the park, where he was beloved by
the public and, along with stablemate Cigar, one of the park's
biggest attractions.
Foaled March 9, 1975, and an average runner early in his career,
John Henry was the highest money-earning thoroughbred in history
when he retired in 1985.
The gelded son of Old Bob Bowers out of Once Double won four
Grade I races and Horse of the Year honors at age 6 and 9 and
collected seven Eclipse awards from 1980 through 1984.
To the end, John Henry remained cantankerous, said Cathy Robey,
who runs the park's Hall of Champions, where the horse was stabled.
"He has always been nasty, from day one," Robey said. "John
has always had a little attitude problem. He's like the little guy
with the chip on his shoulder. He has so many people that would
never actually touch him or get near him, but they love him."
"What can I say about the legendary John Henry that has not
already been said," Chris McCarron, who rode John Henry in 14 of
his last races, said in a statement from the park. "John meant the
world to my family and me. Everywhere he raced, his presence
doubled the size of a normal race track crowd. He did so much for
racing, even after he retired, that he will be impossible to
replace. He will be sorely missed but forever in our hearts."
John Henry was loved not for a tremendous talent but because he
was a fighter who would battle not to lose at any cost.
Although he never won a Triple Crown race, he was successful at
the highest levels of competition on the dirt and the turf.
"John Henry was a testament to the fact that a horse's value is
far greater than the sum of his pedigree, conformation, sales price
and race record," park executive director John Nicholson said in
the statement.
In his career John Henry earned 39 victories, 15 seconds and
nine thirds in 83 starts and earned $6,597,947. He was inducted
into thoroughbred racing's Hall of Fame in 1990.
Foaled at Golden Chance Farms in Kentucky in 1975, John Henry
was called "small," "ugly" and "bad-tempered" as a foal. He
was sold at the January mixed sale at Keeneland for $1,100.
He soon became known more for his disposition than his racing
ability, often tearing buckets and tubs of the wall of his stall
and stomping them flat.
He was sold to Harold Snowden of Lexington for $2,200 in 1977.
Snowden chose to geld John Henry with the hope it would calm him
and allow him to focus on racing.
He changed hands two more times until native New Yorker Sam
Rubin and his wife, Dorothy, bought him for $25,000 sight unseen
over the phone. John Henry's new trainer, Bob Donato, thought the
horse would fare well on grass, and John Henry won six of 19 starts
as a 3-year-old.
As a 4-year-old, John Henry won four of 11 races for trainer
Lefty Nickerson. The following year, John Henry was sent to work
with trainer Ron McAnally in California and his career blossomed.
McAnally trained John Henry with "carrots, apples and love,"
the horse park said. He visited during the horse's retirement and
had seen him as recently as September, bringing the animal's
favorite cookies and carrots, the park said. Lewis Cenicola, John
Henrys exercise rider for six years, also visited the horse in
September, the park said.
He won six stakes races in a row as a 5-year-old, including four
Grade I races - the San Luis Rey Stakes, the San Juan Capistrano
Invitational, the Hollywood Invitational and the Oak Tree
Invitational.
That year also saw him claim his first of seven Eclipse awards
as the nation's champion turf horse. He finished the 1980 campaign
with eight victories and three seconds in 12 starts.
John Henry's remarkable run continued for the next four years as
he won 18 of 30 starts. In 1981 alone, he won eight of 10 starts
and was named champion grass horse, champion older horse and horse
of the year.
As a 9-year-old, John Henry won four straight stakes races,
claimed $2.3 million in earnings and again was named champion grass
horse and horse of the year.
He won what proved to be his last race, the Ballantine's Scotch
Classic at the Meadowlands on Oct. 13, 1984. John Henry was
scheduled to run in the inaugural Breeders' Cup Turf Classic that
year, but a strained suspensory ligament kept him on the sidelines.
Rubin planned to race John Henry as a 10-year-old, but changed
his mind in July 1985, after the horse suffered a leg injury during
training.
"If he'd have broken down on the race track, I couldn't have
lived with it," Rubin said at the time.
Tom Levinson, Rubin's stepson, said in the statement that his
mother and Rubin "loved sharing John's victories with his adoring
fans and we appreciate their devotion even to this sad day. ... We
are sure that if Sam Rubin were here today, he and my mother
Dorothy would agree that their wish would be for John Henry to be
remembered as the mighty, cantankerous champion we all loved."
