John Henry Still Making His Own Pace : Thoroughbred Racing’s 11-Year-Old Legend Is on Comeback Trail

Exercise rider Lewis Cenicola is just along for the ride when he puts John Henry through his paces because the great bay gelding is setting his own pace on the comeback trail.

The 11-year-old racing legend is spending the latter half of the summer at the scenic Del Mar by the sea. However, he may or may not run while at Del Mar. Patience is the key word on this comeback.

“We just take it one day at a time,” said Ron McAnally, John Henry’s trainer. “We’ll just get him ready and then find him a race. You don’t look for a race and then get him ready.”

After winning $6,597,947--a record for a thoroughbred--John Henry was retired last July by his owners, Sam and Dot Rubin, to live out his life in luxury.

Sold originally for $1,100 at a 1976 yearling sale and purchased by the Rubins for $25,000 in 1978, John Henry won 39 races in 83 starts, with 15 seconds and 9 thirds, although his modest breeding indicated no such potential. He was sired by Ole Bob Bowers out of Once Double.

John Henry was Horse of the Year in 1981, beating out Slew O’Gold, and again in 1984. He was the only horse to win the Santa Anita Handicap twice (1981-82), won the Arlington Million in 1981 and 1984, the Jockey Club Gold Cup in 1981 and three Hollywood Invitationals en route to his record earnings.

The only thoroughbreds ever to win more than his 39 races were Round Table (43) and Armed (41).

Retirement, however, apparently didn’t set well with John Henry. He was brought back last spring in what is as much a tribute to a great horse as it is a comeback.

He has yet to race but his people think he may be ready in early September.

“He loves it,” McAnally said. “I can see the difference when he stands in the paddock at the Horse Park as opposed to here. He is happy here. Just being around people who pamper him and give him carrots and sugar and come to see him. I can tell there is quite a difference in him.”

John Henry is slowly working himself into shape. He runs every six days or so in the morning when the only observers are horse people, turf writers and the handful of early birds who stop by to scrutinize the parade of horses pounding past them.

“He’s sort of working at his own pace,” McAnally said. “He’s smart. He doesn’t do anything that isn’t required of him. He’s more or less doing it on his own. We haven’t asked him for anything. As you know, Lewie (the exercise rider) doesn’t carry a stick.”

On this particular day, John Henry strolled out of his stall at mid-morning as his owners looked on. He was saddled up and Cenicola was boosted aboard for the slow walk to the track.

John Henry is by no means the only horse on the track and there is nothing obvious in his appearance to separate him from the crowd. The railbirds on the clock stand picked him out by looking for Cenicola’s red and white helmet.

“He’s a well-balanced horse,” said McAnally. “Thing that separates him, I think, is his actions. He doesn’t lose a step. He has good momentum and a good swing to him.”

John Henry walked to a point on the second turn, then ducked his head and roared along the back stretch past the railbirds and went on to cross the finish line with a time of :59 2/5 over five furlongs. He eased up and was marked at 1:12 3/5 for six furlongs, a second faster than the previous time he ran it.

“We try to have him go whatever distance he is going easy the first time and then step it up the next time,” McAnally said. “That’s the pattern we have used for the past 25 years.”

On his way back to the stables, John Henry trotted past the clock stand and within arms length of his admirers. A woman in the crowd cooed to him in baby talk.

Back at the stable, the grooms threw a blanket over John Henry while they took his bridle off. They then rinsed him down with a garden hose.

“He’ll just cool out here and have the day off tomorrow,” McAnally said. “When we get him pretty close to a race, we’ll work him perhaps between races and we’ll see if he has the desire.”

McAnally explained John Henry’s popularity this way: “People seem to relate to the underdog; the poor people, the guys that didn’t cost millions of dollars in a horse sale. He came up from the poor and lesser tracks, went through the sales ring for $1,100 and didn’t have the blue-blood breeding. I think they all relate to that just like they do a lot of sports figures.”