A memorial to the champion is planned:
“John Henry was special to the park, he was special to racing, and his story is just a great one, regardless of whether you are into racing or not,” said Oster in a release. Oster has been a park volunteer the past 10 years and was one of John’s primary caretakers. “He was the people’s horse, he was a blue-collar horse, he didn’t have a lot of breeding, and he overcame every obstacle he ever had in his life.”
Oster said the idea of a memorial has been in the works since 2002, when John Henry nearly succumbed to colic and underwent surgery.
"At first I thought we needed to do something very grand," said Oster. "But then, the more I thought about it, the more I felt that any memorial needed to be unpretentious and simple, just like John was himself.”
The memorial, pending approval from the park commission, will consist of a landscaped sitting area outside John’s former paddock at the Horse Park’s Hall of Champions and will include an understated monument to be sculpted by local equine artist Shelley Hunter.
