Sam Rubin, 91; Owned John Henry, Racing’s Horse of the Year in 1981, ’84

Sam Rubin, who with his wife, Dorothy, owned two-time horse of the year John Henry, died of undisclosed causes Feb. 13 in Palm Beach, Fla. He was 91.

Rubin, a New York bicycle importer who made it big when cycling became the recreational rage in the 1960s, had been a lifelong horseplayer and owned a few insignificant racehorses when he bought an undistinguished John Henry for $25,000 in 1978.

When John Henry was inducted into racing’s Hall of Fame in 1990, Rubin recalled his initial naivete.

“I gave 10% of the sale price to the agent,” Rubin said. “I didn’t know that I wasn’t supposed to pay the commission.”

John Henry was sent from Kentucky to New York for a physical inspection before the sale could be completed.

“ ‘This horse is in at the knees [knock-kneed],’ ” Rubin said he was told by a veterinarian.

“ ‘That’s good,’ ” Rubin said he replied.

Somehow, the combination of clueless owner and workaday racehorse worked wonders.

A gelding who’d had seven previous owners and had been competing primarily in claiming and allowance races, John Henry became a champion -- winning 39 of 83 races and retiring at age 11 with then-record earnings of nearly $6.6 million.

The horse of the year in 1981 and 1984, John Henry won 30 stakes races, including the Santa Anita Handicap twice, in 1981 and ‘82, and the inaugural Arlington Million in 1981, thoroughbred horse racing’s first $1-million race.

“It was a fantasy unlike anything I have ever experienced in my life,” Rubin said in a 2001 interview with The Times. “I didn’t know much about horses, but my wife and I got very lucky with John.

“I see people now and they say, ‘Didn’t you own a horse named John Henry?’ It’s amazing to me [that] people remember. It’s very hard to believe everything that happened with John happened to Dorothy and myself.”

The Rubins, who raced as Dotsam Stable, received an Eclipse Award in 1981 -- a year in which John Henry won five Grade 1 stakes -- as the outstanding owner of the year.

John Henry lives at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Ky., where he was sent after his retirement. He is 31.

Rubin’s survivors include his wife, a son and a daughter.