Now It’s Official: John Henry Is Retiring : Trainer Says Leg Injury Minor, but 11-Year-Old’s Career Is Over

Trainer Ron McAnally made it official Tuesday, announcing that John Henry was being retired.

There had been strong indications Monday, a week after John Henry reinjured a leg that had sidelined him in 1984, that the 11-year-old gelding’s career would be over.

John Henry, who won two horse-of-the-year titles and a record $6.5 million in purses, strained a ligament just above his left front ankle in a workout at Del Mar on Aug. 5.

“This is a minor injury,” McAnally said. “It’s incredible how minor it is, but because of the horse’s age, Jack Robbins recommended that we retire him.”

Robbins, John Henry’s veterinarian, examined the horse for a couple of days when swelling occurred after the workout.

“Time just ran out on him,” Robbins said.

McAnally said that in two or three weeks John Henry would be returned to the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Ky. John Henry, after first being retired in July of 1985, had been living at the park until his owner, Sam Rubin, decided to attempt a comeback with the horse in May.

In 83 starts, John Henry won 39 races, 30 of them in stakes and most of them for Rubin, a New York bicycle importer who thought he was just getting a “nice allowance horse” when he bought him privately as a 3-year-old in 1978 for $25,000.