John Henry, as noted recently on this blog, had some health setbacks, and it got to the point where his quality of life was poor:
“The mighty heart of the great John Henry has, at long last, yielded to time," expressed John Nicholson, executive director of the Horse Park. "The racing industry has lost a legend, but more significantly, many people have lost a personal hero. John Henry’s true legacy was written in people’s hearts far more indelibly than his superlative racing career could ever reflect.
“John Henry was a testament to the fact a horse’s value is far greater than the sum of his pedigree, conformation, sales price, and race record," Nicholson said.
The sad, but unanimous, decision was reached by a team of people who knew him best.
The park’s equine director, Kathy Hopkins stated, “After continued successful efforts to maintain the quality of John Henry's life, in the past 48 hours he did not respond to our medical intervention. Due to the loss of kidney function and muscle mass, his veterinarian, Dr. Mike Beyer, found it impossible to keep him properly hydrated and comfortable.
"Over the years, our goal has always been to maintain the highest quality of care and life for him, and it became evident over the weekend that this was no longer possible. Our hearts go out to all of those who so deeply cared for John during his long and charismatic life.”
John Henry went peacefully to sleep surrounded by a small circle of friends who were closest to him, including Cathy Roby, who has been his friend and caretaker for 16 years and his breeder, Verna Lehmann.
John Henry's story was one of the great racing sagas of all time. His sire was a nothing sire, Old Bob Bowers, and the gelding himself was sold as $1,100 yearling, if I remember correctly. I believe he went through a couple of owners before bicycle businessman Sam Rubin bought him for around $25,000. The horse won 39 of 83 races, including the inaugural running of the Arlington Million in an unforgettable stretch run with a horse named The Bart (and memorialized in a statue there), and ended up winning $6,591,860. The great gelding raced until he was nine.
John Henry was gelded, but he still had a rotten disposition. When I visited him at the Kentucky Horse Park back in 1989, the day before I saw Secretariat, his stall was next to racing great Forego's, and both of the doors were screened so people would not be tempted to pet either horse. Despite his surly temperament, he was quite a ham when paraded in front of the many fans who saw him daily.
Several years ago I posted pictures of him at the park, and if I remember tonight I'll try to scan and upload those pictures again.
John Henry was also a very small horse, not much over 15 hands high if that, and he was certainly dwarfed by the giant-sized Forego, one of the tallest horses I have ever seen.
From the Kentucky Horse Park page, some statistics:
* Voted 7 Eclipse Awards
* Voted Horse of the Year 1981 and 1984
* Only horse to win Horse of the Year more than once but not in consecutive years
* Voted Champion Older Horse 1981
* Oldest horse to win Horse of the Year - at age 9
* Oldest horse to win a Grade 1 race - at age 9
* Voted Champion Turf Horse - 1980, 1981, 1982, 1984
* Won 30 stakes races
* Only horse to win the Arlington Million(G1) twice - 1981 & 1984
* Only horse to win the Santa Anita Handicap(G1) twice - 1981 & 1982
* Won more grade stakes than any other Thoroughbred - 25
* Voted Racehorse of the Decade for the 1980s
* Still the richest gelding of any breed in history
* Retired as the world's richest thoroughbred - July 28, 1985
* Inducted into Racing's Hall of Fame in 1990
* Voted 23rd best racehorse of the 20th Century
