Love that the announcer stated that John Henry made a "futile trip from the west coast." Well guess what - that amazing racehorse made an amazing career by defying expectations. Here he does it as a six year-old on the dirt!
@@johnharman9560 He supposedly was also telling everyone that Secretariat was lame after losing the Wood Memorial in 1973, as the Kentucky Derby was approaching lol
@@jeffgarmon1 I'd rather see a horse run 50 times and win 20 big races than run 5 times in the biggest races and win them all. Can't build a legacy without a story arc and a large number of triumphs!
Well put. If you've never read "John Henry-- Racing's Grand Old Man" by Steve Haskin, I highly recommend it. John Henry and his trainer Ron McAnally were both orphans who somehow were brought together and look what happened. Kindness and respect go a long way.@@DanielSong39
Peat Moss almost pulled an awesome upset, he wasnt even mentioned during the race till he hit the finish line. John Henry was practically unbeatable throughout his career. A true legend.
Anyone who had been at Aqueduct in the spring knew Peat Moss was really strong, as he'd carried 145 pounds two miles (as noted by Cassidy). No one thought he could roll with John Henry though.
John Henry could have beat them all again runin' through a muddy cornfield in October. He ran on whatever surface he was on. And so smart, knew the game, and all his jockey's were just "along for the ride". What a horse. Thank you for posting the race!
@@raygordonteacheschess5501 Yeah, Peat Moss, has a pedigree of great horses. He was a pure distance horse. Won the Display Handicap, Kelso Handicap twiced/ Extremely underrated horse.
Excellent post-race commentary thanks to the great Frank Wright -- notice how responsive and right to the point He and Shoemaker are, no BS, "What went thru your mind when..."
According to The Bloodhorse Top 100 U.S. Thouroughbred Horses of the XX Century List" John Henry is ranked in 23th. place. 39 wins, 15 seconds and 9 thirds and U.S. $ 6.591.890,00 in 83 starts. 1981 U.S. Champion Older Male Horse; 1981 and 1984 U.S. Horse of the Year and inducted to The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1990. What an extraordinary horse! Regards from a venezuelan citizen who emigrated to Chile searching a better way of life.
Was never a big John Henry fan, but what a race. Great names all the way around. Silver Buck (what a looker) and Belmont Winner Summing. But for me it had my 2nd favorite horse Relaxing, dam of my favorite horse, Easy Goer.
I was at this race, sitting in the Racing Form box. I bet John Henry to win, and had the honor of shaking Sam Rubin's hand after JH won, as he was sitting a couple of boxes behind me. Boy, was he happy. He thanked me, and I said, "No, thank you", as I held up my tickets🎉
I loved Frank and Charlsie-they were a great broadcasting team in the late 70s, early 80s as I recall, watching the broadcasts in NJ every saturday. I tried not to miss it.
John always seemed to show his white shadow roll just when the real running was about to begin. Of course sometimes he just said screw it and he would put himself on the lead. He was a little bulldog of a horse. SPECIAL!!
The announcer should NEVER have said "John Henry has made a futile trip here"....hope you had to eat those words again and again...JH was such a great great horse
BC, Thanks for another wonderful video of the Living Legend John Henry! I love the remarks made by Sam Rubin: "...Lightning in a Bottle..." Two professionals, The Shoe and John~John. Gotta love it! Bless our Beloved John Henry; 32-years young still living at the Kentucky Horse Park. XOXO Judy G (Burbank, CA)
0:28 "Peat Moss is out of it." -- The Greek (a year earlier, I asked him about his pick of the Jets to win the Super Bowl, and he said "I was wrong") also cashed a 6-1 that beat his 8-5 after hearing him put 200 on the favorite (I put 4 on the winner). Second-floor clubhouse dining room is where we'd cross paths.
I would have liked to have seen John Henry take on Seattle Slew. They were similar horses because of their drive and will to win. Of course that much TNT on the same racetrack might have exploded the world.
Slew was superior on dirt, but on turf the edge goes to John Henry. John Henry was an iron-horse in the mold of the great Kelso, he just kept on winning.
Mom took me to the Belmont that year. Horrible weather. We duck into the grandstand cafeteria which is packed. Security guard says "bet #3 all day." Wins four races, including the Belmont at 53-1. Mom then decides I missed the track and began taking me every other week. On the monitor we mocked "Harvey Pack's drunken friend," (sound was muted), declaring that he couldn't know anything about handicapping. Turned out to be Beyer, who had many stories of drinking while at the track in his books, which I read a year later.
Tremendous horse. The workers at the farm where he was retired responded to the rumor that he had died earlier and they used another horse to imitate him: “If we’d done that, don’t you think we would have picked a nicer horse?” He was a handful, but great heart.
"...a futile trip from the West Coast." Such smug certainty - John took offense! John Henry was so wonderfully determined, a less attractive version of another horse born in 1975, the great Affirmed. I could watch his races all day.
John Henry a true legend, winning Grade 1 races on both dirt and turf. Of course the Jockey Club Gold Cup was run over the proper distance 1 & 1/2 miles. Not the ridiculous 1 & 1/4 miles today.
I was at the track that day. I always want to see the Daily Racing Form to make my picks, but that day was different. For the first and only time in my life I touted a horse for 2 weeks before the race. And that horse was Peat Moss. He was such a gutsy horse who could run all day. I knew he would be flying in the stretch. They had three big fall races back then, the Marlboro Cup, the Excelsior Handicap, and the Jockey Club Gold Cup. In the Excelsior Peat Moss was also flying in the stretch but at the shorter distance he ran out of ground. I knew he would like the mile and a half. And no, they didn't mention the claim of foul, but they should have. John Henry should have been DQ'd to 2nd. It was easier to see on the head-on view, but you can even see it on the pan view. When John Henry got the lead in the stretch he was out around the 5 or 6 path. By the time they hit the wire he's almost on the rail. He altered his path and blocked Peat Moss. But there was no way they were going to take down John Henry and the Shoe to put up Frank Lavato Jr. and Peat Moss. What's disappointing in retrospect is that back then it wasn't like today, with exactas and triples in every race. There was no exacta or triple in the race, and the two horses I liked with Peat Moss were John Henry and Relaxing! I would have made a small fortune!
Yeah it's clear Shoe pinched Peat Moss from the TV angle, but it was a foul claim. If t were a steward's inquiry JH might have gone down. Maybe a $10k claiming race but not a race to determine HOY honors.
@@playitsafe20 That's my point. The stewards had no intention of taking down John Henry in favor of Peat Moss. If he slammed Peat Moss into the rail they MIGHT have had a stewards inquiry, but they still might not have taken him down. Funny how some things you just never forget.
@@jimmalachowsky4052 It was a big race with big implications. Wild Again survived a possible DQ in the 1984 BCC, in almost all other cases he would have gone down. I saw the head-on of that race and the story the stewards came up with afterward was bogus. They simply were not going to take down the winner AND the 2nd place horse and put up Slew o Gold. What John Henry did to Peat Moss was not nearly as bad, but I could see a minor race where the stewards would take JH down.
@@playitsafe20 As a long time horse player I find it amazing how the stewards are constantly inconsistent. I've seen races where there should have at least been an inquiry, but nothing, it's official. And I've seen races where there was a DQ, and when they showed the replay there was really nothing there. And I'm talking about when it didn't matter to me, because I wasn't cashing either way. Sometimes I think what they are reviewing during the inquiry is their tickets, to see how they make out better. Back in the 80s there was a horse named State Dinner. I don't remember the race, except it was a stakes race, and I don't remember the name of the other horse, but they hit the wire together. The stewards took NINE MINUTES to determine that State Dinner lost. When they showed the photo, it was a dead heat. I've never seen a crowd at a racetrack so angry as I did that day. The stewards story? They claimed State Dinner lost by 1/32nd of an inch! To me, if you can't tell who won after looking at the photo for a minute or two, it's a dead heat. I have no doubt the stewards had the other horse.
@@jimmalachowsky4052 I guess you played the horses in New York. I was in southern California. There was a famous incident at Hollywood Park in 1973, in which the placing judges put up El Extrano 1st and Knightlander 2nd. It turned out Knightlander actually won the race. Below is the California Horse Racing Board review from the LA Times on July 27, 1973: "It has been brought to the attention of the California Horse Racing Board that the placing judges mis-read the projection of the photo-finish negative of the seventh race last Monday and mis-placed the first two horses. The official order of finish as posted showed El Extrano the winner, with Knightlander second. A later review of the positive print of the photo-finish showed Knightlander to be the actual winner, with El Extrano a close second. "A joint investigation disclosed that the three placing judges were unanimous in their visual placing of El Extrano first... The placing judges posted that order of finish in the belief that it was correct and the stewards ordered the ... finish as official. The payoffs were made on the official order of finish as posted. "The rules and regulations of the California Horse Racing Board provide that the decisions of the placing judges in such matters are final and official, and ... in no way affect the parimutuel payoffs." After 8 years of litigation involving plaintiffs with wagers on Kightlander, they received a settlement of 75 cents on a dollar for the lost wagers, along with a free admission coupon to Hollywood Park.
Thanks for posting the only video on RU-vid of my favorite horse, Peat Moss. What this video doesn't contain though is the claim of foul by Frank Lovato against Shoemaker and John Henry for coming over and brushing Peat Moss just before the wire. Thankfully what I yelled at Shoemaker post-race that day isn't on this tape, it wasn't very nice. I wish McCarron had been on John Henry, he wouldn't have pulled that nonsense and Peat Moss would have won the biggest race of the year.
Peat Moss had dominated the starter handicaps all winter in early 1981, going two miles with 145 pounds at one point. Though surprising, this was hardly shocking.
@@raygordonteacheschess5501 I loved those two mile - and longer - races back in the 80's, we'd always go on New Years Eve for the Display Handicap. I saw Peat Moss win it and Field Cat beat him on the wire (getting weight) the following year. Good times, back when breeding wasn't all about speed.
Second-place finisher Peat Moss was claimed for $10,000 with 35 claims put in, and dominated the starter-handicap races at Aqueduct in 1981, carrying 145 pounds two miles at one point (Cassidy mentioned this while they wer loading). Never thought he'd be competitive here though it was obvious he could run all day and didn't belong in claimers. No real shock in retrospect.
John Henry ran in claimers for $2500 to $25k and was sold in a private sale for $5000 before he was gelded and became great. He was as honest as they come.
+tubeyhamster If Seattle Slew had stayed around for five and six year old campaigns, we could have seen him and John Henry square off. John Henry was not yet where he would be when he and Slew were both racing. This race would be where John Henry became at the time the sport's all-time leading money earner. It would be a mark he would hold until Cigar came along and 15 years later in 1996 shattered JH's record following going 10-for-10 in 1995 in what is still one of the best seasons ever by an older horse.
Slew became the most dominant sire of his generation, and dominant sire of sires. JH was a gelding. Besides, after winning the triple crown do you really have much more to prove?
So, the 40-1 shot actually got up to take second and would have won in onother two strides. So much for the guy at the beginning saying he had no chance.
The "expert" was Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder, the worst TV handicapper of all time (even stole his nickname from Nicholas Dandolos aka "Nick the Greek"), who was a VERY professional gambler). I was all over Snyder after the race; he hustled out of ther pretty quickly.
Perfect hindsight handicapper, you are. And calling yourself "The Greek" is not stealing the name from anyone. If he called himself "Nick The Greek II ," that would be stealing. Stop being perfect after the results are in, unless YOU pick 100 per cent winners.
John Henry couldn't shine the great kelsos' shoes. Kelso is the only horse to win the 2 mile jockey gold cup 5 times and, holds the 3 fastest timings for it breaking the record 2 times on sloppy tracks! Oh and, that's just a bit part of the greatest racehorse of all-times kelso. Kelso carried 12 pct of his 900 pound body weight. Amazing. John Henry carried 136 pounds twice and, lost twice, kelso also did and, won twice. Especially for a horse that looked like a deer! KELSO WAS THE GREATEST AND, STILL IS. KELSOS' BIGGEST FAN.
Man, kelso was horse of the year 5 times and the closest is forego with 3 and, kelso won the 2 miles 5 times and set the record for it 2 times n sloppy tracks and, holds the 3 fastest timings for it guy! Kelso is the only horse to win the whitney, the woodward and, the 2 mile jockey gold cup, twice. Only 3 have done it once at all!!!!!!!!!! Kelso is the only horse to win the handicap triple crown carrying over 130 pounds of the 4 to ever win it. Kelso the year he win the handicap triple crown became the only horse to win the handicap triple crown, the whitney, the woodward and, the 2 mile jockey gold cup!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Kelso beat more camoions, more international champions, more hall of famers than any other race horse of all-times!!!!!!!!!!!! Kelso is also the only horse to break a record on dirt[the 2 mile jockey gold cup at 3:19 1/5 on a sloppy track and, then just 11 days later break a record on grass for 1 mile and, half and, that was on 3 tight turns which were way harder than those 2 huge sweeping turns secretariat had at belmont on dirt right by the rail on that fast track! Yes kelso was the greatest and, still is and, it's not even close and, he only weighed 900 pounds and looked like a deer and, still was carrying up to 12pct of his body weight!!!!!!!!!!! Kelso is the greatest of them all, not even close. How any horses set a record on a sloppy track, sme can't even run in a sloppy track and, kelso did it 2 times. He was breaking records at 3 and, still broke records at 7!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Freakin unbelievable was he! He was the greatest wasn't he! Secretariat my ass, that juiced up lasix horse. Man of war kelsos' great grandfather, was better than secretariat for many reasons, considering the conditions he ran uder and, weight and, iron shoes. KELSOS' BIGGEST FAN.
Kelso has nothing to do w/ this race, why even bring him up? Type "Kelso" into the search bar, I'm sure you'll find plenty to talk about where it's appropriate.
Man, kelso won horse of the 5 times which no horse will ever do again, only horse to win the whitneym the woodward, and, the 2 mile jockey gold cup in one year 2 times!!!!!!!!!! Only 3 won that combo at all. Won the handicap triplecrown which only 3 others ever won and, he was the only one who won it carrying over 130 pounds in each of the 3 races!!!!!!! He also won the whitney, the woodward and, the 2 mile jockey gold cup the same year making the only horse to ever put that combo together in one year!!!!!!!! Kelso also beat more champions, more international champions, more hall of famers than any darn horse of all-times!!!! Broke 2 records on soppy tracks. How many horses break a record on a sloppy track? Some can't even run on a sloppy track! Man, you gotta be kidding, kelso won the 2 mile jockey gold cup 5 times and, broke the record 2 times doing so and, holds the 3 fastest timings for it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You must not know hell about the great kelso who only weighed 900 pounds and, was carrying 12 pct of his bodyweight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He looked like a freakin deer! Kelso is the greatest racheorse of all-times and, it's not even close. Broke a record on dirt for 2 miles and just 11 days later broke a record on grass for 1 mile and a half, no other horse has ever done that that way. He broke records at 3 and was still breaking them at 7!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This better be good cheif! John Henry was a punk next to the great kelso. Kelso won two times carrying 136 pounds John Henry lost two times carrying 136 pounds. You gotta be kidding. Go watch kelso at the 1964 dc international againts some of the best horses in the world and, he broke that record on 3 tight turns which are way harder than those 2 huge sweeping turns secretariat had at belmont on that fast track eight by the rail from the start, which is the shortest way around any track. Kelso is the greatest andm, it's not even close man. Tell me about a great horse.KELSOS' BIGGEST FAN.
Yeap the left coast people, including the announcers and race callers, could not stand West Coast horses. I.E. Sunday silence Easy Goer. John Henry equals Greatness.
