A Small Horse Owned the Big ‘Cap : Only the Gelding John Henry Has Won Santa Anita’s Most Important Race Twice

Jimmy Jones, the legendary trainer, once said that the Santa Anita Handicap was the toughest race to win in the United States.

He spoke from experience. Before finally winning the Big ‘Cap with Mark-Ye-Well in 1953, Jones started six horses--including Hall of Famers Armed, Citation, Two Lea and Bewitched--and never did better than second.

Many trainers would say that the Kentucky Derby is the toughest race to win, partly because a horseman gets only one shot with each horse. But Jones and his father, Ben, won the Derby eight times over an incredible two decades that started in 1938. It was the Big ‘Cap, not the Derby, that seemed like rolling a boulder uphill for the Joneses.

What might be said with less argument about the Santa Anita Handicap is that it’s the toughest race to win twice. Best Pal can do it when the race is run for the 56th time Saturday, but the only precedent is John Henry, who needed the help of a long-deliberated stewards’ decision in 1982.

Trainer Gary Jones--no relation to Ben and Jimmy--is unhappy with Best Pal’s 124-pound weight assignment for Saturday.

But John Henry carried 128 and 130 pounds in the years he won, and the pint-sized gelding, as a 9-year-old, carried 127 pounds when he finished fifth while trying to win the Big ‘Cap for the third time in 1984.

The more time that passes after John Henry’s consecutive victories in the Big ‘Cap, the more extraordinary they become, because any analysis of the sore-legged horse’s record shows that he was not that special on dirt.

En route to $6.5 million in purses--the record until Alysheba surpassed $6.6 million in 1988--John Henry won 30 of 50 starts on grass, but only nine of 33 on dirt. The Santa Anita Handicap represented 22% of the stakes that John Henry won on dirt.

So, during the winter of 1981 at Santa Anita, Sam Rubin and Ron McAnally weren’t advertising that the Big ‘Cap might be a possibility for grass specialist John Henry.

McAnally began training John Henry in the fall of 1979, after the gelding had run 38 times for other trainers. Rubin, a New York bicycle importer, had bought the one-time $1,100 yearling the year before, paying $25,000 for the mean-spirited horse after at least five previous owners had given up.

“We didn’t want to show our hand (regarding the Big ‘Cap) too early,” McAnally said. “We were afraid that (Santa Anita’s racing department) might give the horse too much weight, and we figured by waiting, that might help. If they thought he was only a grass horse running on dirt, they might give us a break.”

In 1980, John Henry had run twice on dirt, winning the San Marcos Handicap at Santa Anita in January and finishing second to Temperence Hill, the Belmont Stakes winner, in the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park in October.

McAnally had trained John Henry on dirt, however, and believed that he was versatile enough to handle the main track, particularly if the going wasn’t deep and sandy.

Under 127 pounds, John Henry made his 1981 debut on grass by winning the San Luis Obispo Handicap. In the winner’s circle that day, McAnally announced that the Big ‘Cap, three weeks later, was the next objective.

When the weights came out, Flying Paster, second to Spectacular Bid in the race the year before, was at the top with 129 pounds, one more than John Henry.

“Who knows?” McAnally said. “I think our strategy might have been worth one or two pounds.”

The nine other horses were weighted at 10 to 21 pounds less than Flying Paster. And McAnally thought Flying Paster’s stamina could be questioned at the 1 1/4-mile distance.

Laffit Pincay, who had only begun riding John Henry, had hoped to be fourth or fifth early in the race, but they were squeezed leaving the gate and there was a rough run to the first turn. Far back and in sixth place, Pincay at least had the consolation that they were saving ground on the rail down the backstretch.

Heading for home, favored Flying Paster and King Go Go were battling for the lead, but Flying Paster had suffered a leg injury and wound up fourth, the end of an exceptional career.

Pincay pointed John Henry to the hole between Flying Paster and King Go Go, and they went on through, pulling away for a one-length victory over King Go Go in 1:59 2/5, which was fourth-fifths of a second slower than the stakes record that Affirmed set in 1979.

As the second choice before a crowd of 66,560, John paid $5.80.

“He was in all kinds of trouble when they came by the stands the first time, but he overcame it all,” McAnally said. “He wasn’t the kind of horse that would let that bother him.”

John Henry won eight of 10 starts before the year was over, winning his first of two horse-of-the-year titles, and also was voted best male on grass and dirt.

Obviously, McAnally would not be able to sneak up on the Big ‘Cap in 1982.

After a fourth-place finish in the Hollywood Turf Cup in early December of 1981, John Henry was given a rest, the plan being to attack the Big ‘Cap without the benefit of a prep race. Charlie Whittingham had won the 1973 race with Cougar II off workouts alone, but no one could remember anyone else being so bold.

John Henry rested at a training center for about a month before he was returned to McAnally’s barn in early January, two months before the race. He then went through eight workouts, and when the weights came out, he was given 130 pounds, as much as he had ever carried.

To get John Henry ready for 12 furlongs, McAnally worked him between races at 1 1/8 miles on the grass, and he was timed in 1:47 2/5, faster than he had won some of his races.

Besides the horse being a year older and the increased weight, the other difference was that his jockey was Bill Shoemaker.

Pincay, after having won five of seven races with John Henry, had been under suspension the previous July and Shoemaker took over for a victory in a race at Belmont Park. Pincay and his agent, George O’Bryan, thought they would regain the mount after that race, but Rubin decided to stay with Shoemaker.

“At the time, I felt that Shoemaker was the athlete of the century,” Rubin said. “It was a hard decision, but John was our only horse, and we didn’t know how long the party was going to last. We had to do what we thought was right. And if it made us look selfish or self-centered, well, that’s the way it had to be.”

The 1982 Big ‘Cap brought Pincay and Shoemaker together for a grueling stretch drive marked by controversy.

Pincay, aboard Perrault on the inside, repeatedly whipped his horse from the left side, and they drifted toward the middle of the track--carrying John Henry and Shoemaker with them. At the wire, Perrault, under 126 pounds, was a nose in front in 1:59.

Shoemaker didn’t have to claim foul, though. By the time he returned with the horse, the stewards--Pete Pedersen, Hubert Jones and the late Alfred Shelhamer--had flashed the “inquiry” sign.

While 72,752 fans waited, the judges reviewed the reruns and McAnally and Rubin watched a head-on replay of the stretch run. “I thought (Perrault’s) number would come down,” McAnally said. “Laffit using his left hand that much played a part in it. I couldn’t remember ever seeing Laffit hit a horse so much in such a short stretch.”

Perrault was dropped to second place, only the second disqualification in the history of the Big ‘Cap, and John Henry’s victory was worth $4.60 to his backers.

Whittingham was Perrault’s trainer.

“John Henry’s the real favorite around here,” Whittingham said bitterly after the race. “I think that if it was any other horse, my horse wouldn’t have come down.”

Three weeks later, Perrault won the San Luis Rey Stakes, with John Henry running third. But Whittingham’s horse still hadn’t prevented John Henry from doing what no horse--then and now--has ever done in the Santa Anita Handicap.