John Henry (horse)
John Henry (March 9, 1975 – October 8, 2007) was an American Thoroughbred race horse who had 39 wins, with $6,591,860 in earnings. This total is the equivalent to almost 15 million dollars in 2015. He was twice voted the Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year in 1981 and 1984, with his 1981 selection unanimous. In all, he won seven Eclipse awards. John Henry was also listed as #23 - Top 100 U.S. Racehorses of the 20th Century.
The horse was named after the folk hero John Henry. As a colt, John Henry had a habit of tearing steel water and feed buckets off stall walls and stomping them flat. This reminded his then-owners of the legendary John Henry, who was known as a "steel-drivin' man". He was gelded both for his temperament as well as his lack of good breeding, which meant that he would have been unlikely to be in much demand as a breeding stallion. A Golden Chance Farm foal, John Henry was from breeding that might best be described as plebeian. His sire, Ole Bob Bowers, once sold for just $900 and was not in much demand by breeders. His dam, Once Double, was an undistinguished runner and producer, but was sired by Double Jay, a graded stakes race winner who had proven to be a useful broodmare sire.
John Henry was sold as a yearling for $1,100 at the Keeneland January Mixed sale to John Callaway who is credited with giving John Henry his name. Besides being back at the knee (a flaw in conformation that generally makes a long racing career unlikely), undersized, and plainly bred, John Henry had bumped his head in his stall just before being led to the ring, bloodying his face.
He had a series of trainers, making his mark as a workmanlike racehorse who earned money in minor stakes, allowance races, and mid-level claiming races. One such allowance race took place at Saratoga Race Course on August 8, 1978. The race is of note in that John Henry finished behind Darby Creek Road who won in a track record time of 1:20 2/5 for seven furlongs. Also of note was the fact that unknown to all attending that day, the race card featured two future National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame horses.
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