John Henry is a Cinderella story if there ever was one. Coming from breeding stock that would not necessarily produce a champion, he did not have the greatest confirmation, and he passed no from owner from owner to owner, trainer to trainer. But it would be owner Sam Rubin of Dotsam Stable that would get the best out of John Henry.
The odd looking colt (soon to be gelded because of his temperment) was sold many times before Rubin purchased him. He had won three races out of almost twenty starts (including a listed stakes win, Lafayette Futurity). But the previous trainers ran him on dirt, something that new trainer Robert Conato would find was not John Henry's calling. So in his second start as Rubin's horse, John Henry switched to the grass. He won the race (a claiming race) by a dozen lengths.
Although he had found his footing on the lawn, it would take a little while for John Henry to get to champion status. Next John Henry would take an allowance race then took his next try in graded stakes company. He entered the Lamplighter Hadncaip (G3), where he set the pace on to beby North Course and Horatius, losing only by half a length. At Belmont Park, John Henry would come second in both the Hill Prince Handicap and Lexington Handicap (G3) to such horses as Mac Diarmida and Darby Creek Road.
During Saratoga's famous summer meet, John Henry would not have very much luck. He would finish fourth and fifth in only allowances races. But once he was taken back to Belmont he won once again in a seven furlong allowance. John Henry would now win his first graded stakes. The Round Table Handicap (G3) at Arlington Park was to be John Henry's greatest achievement yet. Going off as the race favorite, John Henry would take the race by twelve lengths, leading wire to wire. People started to take notice.
Shipped to the west coast, John Henry rallied late to close for third in the Volante Handicap (G3) and then showed a bad turn of foot in the C F Burke Handicap fading to sixth. Two weeks later John Henry would take a small stakes at Penn National. This would be his last race under the hands of Donato (over a dispute between trainer and owner), as John Henry was switched to trainer Victor Nickerson. John Henry woud come second in the Sunrise and Sword Dancer Handicaps but would also put in a disasterous performance in the Massachusets Handicap (on dirt). Although he did win two allowance races at Saratoga and Belmont, John Henry would be shipped back to the west coast where he was put under the hands of famed Ron McAnally, who is best known as the trainer of the two Argentinian mares, Bayakoa and Paseana.
Owner Rubin did not know it at the time, but McAnally would get the most from John Henry on the race track. The gelding seemed to want to run his best for the trainer; people said the horse and man had a special bond. The deal was to have McAnally train the gelding on the west coast and Nickerson on the east. After going back to Nickerson twice, Rubin finally decided to keep John Henry with McAnally. |
