[.ca] John Henry: Racing's Grand Old Man (ISBN 1581501501)

The bargain-basement gelding:
"John Henry" is book number ten in the Thoroughbred Legends series published by the Eclipse Press out of Lexington, Kentucky. Steve Haskin, an award-winning writer for "The Blood-Horse" tells a lively tale of the dumpy little bay horse that was back at the knees and, "like a bargain-basement sale item, ...always seemed to be available at a dirt-cheap price." John Henry was a demon in his stall---he hated to be confined. He passed through the hands of a number of owners and trainers who thought he showed some promise as a runner, even though he was in the habit of ripping his feed tub off of the wall and hurling it down the shed row. Once, when he was stabled at a track he didn't like, John Henry did the same thing to his trainer: "After one of the races, \oJohn Henry\c returned to the barn and was given a bath. Marino \ohis trainer\c started walking him, and before he knew it, his jacket sleeve was in John's mouth. John picked Marino up off the ground and took off down the shed row, dragging him along. Marino was being lifted in the air and was completely helpless...'Thank God I had a goose down jacket or he would have taken a big chunk out of me,' Marino said. 'That's how mad the horse was.'" Then the trainer, Ron McAnally took in the gelding that vented his anger on his water buckets, feed tubs, and sometimes his groom, and turned him into a demon on the race track. How did the trainer do this? McAnally says it was by treating him kindly and earning John Henry's trust. The ugly little demon-turned-race-horse repaid his trainer's kindness by earning an amazing $6.6 million in eighty-three starts and thirty-nine wins. His durability and courage became a legend, and he attracted record numbers of fans to the tracks where he ran. He won his second 'Horse of the Year' title and closed out his racing career at the advanced age of nine. John Henry and his trainer, Ron McAnally were both elected to the Thoroughbred Hall of Fame in 1990, which was only fitting. John is now spending his retirement at the Kentucky Horse Park, and is shown to his visitors three times a day during the season (March 15th through October 31st). Go see him soon, as he turned twenty-six this year. Just don't visit the grand, old gelding on a day when he's been given medicine: "John also hates medicine, and whenever he's given a dewormer, which is a pasty substance, he keeps it in his mouth for hours and refuses to swallow it. One time, Roby \ohis groom\c took him out to show him several hours after he had been given the medication. 'John was standing in the ring,' she said, 'and all of a sudden, he blows this wormer all over the audience.'" John still knows what he doesn't like.

Steel-drivin' star:
Haskin provides a serviceable equine biography of American horse racing's last true superstar. As one Chicago journalist recently pointed out, John Henry's life story is a close approximation of Seabiscuit's: ex-claimer with bad conformation makes very, very good. Not the fastest race horse to ever set foot on a track, John Henry often won on sheer endurance and wits--part of his allure. Most fans will find little new in the way of facts, but will nevertheless want the book for its often amusing anecdotes. Who can resist a horse who drinks coffee? (Oddly enough, one of the most famous stories told by Chris McCarron--John Henry's habit of checking the leader board after winning a race--doesn't make an appearance.) Haskin's prose does not exactly fly, and some of his more rhetorical flights are unintentionally funny. The photographs, despite a somewhat annoying layout, are well-chosen; I was particularly glad to see the award-winning photograph of John Henry regally contemplating an adulatory crowd. Overall, entertaining enough as a quick read.

Stand Up and Cheer!:
After reading this heartwarming story of the ugly horse who blooms and wins our hearts and breaks racing records I wanted to stand up and cheer. I was inspired to visit this living legend and found him as mystical and charismatic in person as related in this wonderful book. A good book for the horse lover and for anyone who loves the unconquerable spirit.