John Henry winning 1981 Arlington Million

[zWildNFree101]

My dad worked for Close friends of john henry's owners...they had a HUGE picture of John Henry in there house. Magnificent horse...thank you for uploading this! :D

[jamessquire1]

Who the hell is this racecaller? Sounds like he's running an auction. Terrible.

[tvcat1]

"John Henry is charging!" Exciting come from behind win. Just amazing how he made up that ground at the end of the race. Photo finish win. Love to watch this race.

[sampson1959]

saw him at kentucky horse park twice before he passed.smart,smart horse.he was the star of the show.spent over an hour with him and his caretaker.the stories she told us about this magnificent animal.god bless john henry!

[kos22us]

i dont know anything about this stuff but my dad always said he really liked this horse that it really had personality, if another horse came up beside him he would pin his ears back and really dig

[recutting]

how about sending a copy of the pictures you took?

[erniewages]

I was one of the photographers in the inner turf > W0W > it was all mucky mud around the trophy stand and all the women's fancy shoes were getting stuck in the mud & john henry trying to stomp everyone , I got the best shot

[erniewages]

I was one of the photographers in the inner turf > W0W

[northernoakstable]

It looks like The Bart won but the camera shot is from behind the finish line.

[wwwcoginkcom]

My grand-parents owned John Henry. Sam and Dottie Ruben (Dotsam Stables). It was incredible growing up as a child seeing these races knowing our family was part of it. Seeing the trophy's in their home when we would go visit them. Amazing part of my life.

THANK YOU SO MUCH for uploading this. It's awesome to be able to show this to my wife and children who did not know my grand-parents let alone John Henry. Thanx again!

[wwwcoginkcom]

@wwwcoginkcom Woops, Rubin. Typo lol

[Venckman]

That tough little SOB really knew where the wire was, didn't he? :)

[bigjoetube]

No horse who ever raced had more guts then John Henry.

[7855waldo]

I'm a lucky guy. Got hacked. Got it fixed. Lost all my favorites. Just found this one tonight, after five months. Great call by Phil G., great race, thanks again for posting!

[205seeme]

Voted 7 Eclipse Awards ,Voted Horse of the Year 1981 and 1984 ,Voted Eclipse Award for Outstanding Older Male Horse 1981 ,Oldest horse to win Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year - at age 9 ,Oldest horse to win a Grade 1 race - at age 9 (tied) ,Voted Eclipse Award for Outstanding Male Turf Horse - 1980, 1981, 1982, 1984 ,Won 30 stakes races ,Only horse to win the Arlington Million (G1) twice - 1981 & 1984,One of only three horses to win the Santa Anita Handicap (G1) twice - 1981 & 1982

[205seeme]

Won more graded stakes than any other Thoroughbred - 25 ,Voted racehorse of the decade for the 1980s ,Still the richest gelding of any breed in history ,Retired as the world's richest thoroughbred - July 28, 1985 ,Inducted into National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1990 ,Ranked #23 in the Blood-Horse magazine List of the Top 100 Racehorses of the 20th Century . They said he was mean asa snake and thats why they had to Geld him when he was little. My dad told me stories about this horse.

[205seeme]

His final race record stood at 83 starts, 39 wins, 15 seconds, and 9 thirds with $6,497,947 in earnings.

[yjuana]

How about that Phil Georgeff?

Truly one of the greatest race callers of all time!

[avagoodava]

John Henry really wanted to win!

[godfathercash420]

what a gutsy horse with a big heart!

[JustaRegularPatriot]

Yes JH was the real deal. Saw him many times in SoCal. Remember the Big Cap with him and Lord at War in the 82 running. What a beast he was. The walking ring was jam packed everytime he ran and he just hammed it up for the crowd. Never be another like him.

[waters06]

i'll never forget this cause my mom had the bart and we waited a long time for the photo and lost. also, i'm reminded by a statue of these 2 horses everytime i go to arlington. what a race; still gives me chills(my favorite announcer...phil georgeff)

[Tammicat21]

Man...I thought I was seeing my first real 100% 'dead heat'! It really was a nose hair...how could they see that? LOL

Fantastic!!!!!! Thanks for posting.

[pleasantcolony]

Big John never was one to win by 10 lengths, but he always seemed to get the job done.I always loved watching him with that shadow roll. You knew he was getting ready to really run when that shadow roll really moved up & down. R.I.P. John Henry you will never be forgotten. Now I know you are up there showing everyone who you are.

[npspec34]

Great Race - it was the NBC coverage that was sub-par. Never call a race until the numbers are "official" on the tote board. John Henry got his nose down right on the wire!

[guyfroml]

Unquestionably one of the greatest race horses of all time!

[rmzweig]

i'd like to see john henry's 1984 arlington million win on youtube...

[recutting]

It is.

[joelsterling]

The last I checked, he won in 1985

[justslamm]

i was just a kid. I always would look for his shadow roll. this one threw me

[wendyu1]

Happy Birthday John Henry

[mismag822]

Unbelievable!!! They posted "The Bart" as the official winner.

Everybody called The Bart as the winner, but it was WAY TO CLOSE TO CALL. Actually, after the slow motion replay, it appeared that John Henry did WIN. What knuckleheads!!!

[july2dude]

truly a race for the ages! who can't remember where they were for this race! if you were alive in 1981 it was an epic day in horse racing history!!!

[Rememberthebest]

Are they saying The Fart? Like the horses name? what is it. Not John Henry the other one.

[sachahuista]

The Irish voice you hear is that of Michael O'Hehir, Ireland's RTE's foremost sports commentator for decades. His most famous moment came in the 1967 Grand National for the BBC - look it up on youtube!

[Mavedog99]

commentator sounds like a broken record, says everything the same way over and over, couldnt even understand what he was saying! but that might be because of the accent. terrible, it hurt my ears. great horse though

[jhhorse]

Commentator Georgeff was a legendary announcer from '59 to '92. At least you're right about the greatness of John Henry.

[hsgbfjar]

Phil Georgeff warned them not to put up The Bart as the winner, but they didn't listen to him.

[STU676]

@hsgbfjar they really messed up

[garretsgold379]

they had to put john hennery down in october i am just glad i got to see him before that

[atvizory2000]

i got to see him too a few years ago and Cigar. It was amazing to see them both.

[garretsgold379]

cigar is my horses cousin

[JimSpoor]

LMAO

[sassygirl6969]

I did too,they were both sweet

[nuness20]

This is a truly great race. I have had this on a videotape for years. Yes, Phil Georgeff's call of the race is a classic, one of the best.

[7855waldo]

God bless Phil. Hearing him, I'm reminded of "you've got to want to win them ALL!"

Hammer it home to today's race callers - if you're sleepwalking on Wednesday, don't come in on Saturday.

Too many of them are stale, stale, stale.

Also notice how engaging & articulate Enberg and Co. are - truly loving the sport itself.

Again, comparisons of 1981 & the current humorless TV sad sacks infuriates.

Retired jockeys - 600-word sentence monologists - is abominable, Bush League TV.

[davemock]

Nice comments, Waldo. You take this level of coverage as well as that provided by CBS when they regularly did the big races in the 70s and 80s...and juxtapose it with some of what we have today. Old school rules. Also, this is the first time I have heard Phil Georgeff...rock-solid.

[Sight19]

May he rest in peace. Did you here? John Henry was put down today.

[Goldie234]

He was something else.. the racing world has lost a wonder horse.... may he be reincarnated 20 fold..... We knew it was coming but it was a shock to my soul

[jbunzol]

What a day of racing that was. I am employed by Arlington and there is a beautiful statue of the finish in the paddock. John, we will miss you. Hope you and the "Shoe" have some great rides in the eternities.

[7855waldo]

Listen to that spectacular announcer!

There are no more Iron Horses like JH (thanks, Breeders - you bred the stamina right out of them - hope you're proud of yourselves. Idiots!).

And now, the brilliance of the race caller on this tape brings into perspective what utter mediocrities almost all of the 2007 race callers are, in comparison.

Try to catch Peter Perry at Mountaineer Park - he and Roger Huston are the best.

[Kiddman32]

I agree that this announcer is exciting, but I always had a problem with his "Here they come spinning out of the turn!" bit... I always picture the horses suddenly rearing up on their hind legs and twirling around, like those Lippizzaner stallions :)

[gfn02]

The great Phil Georgeff; I actually met him once. A very nice man.

[jumptheoxer]

Oh how I long for the days of proper tv coverage of racing like this! recutting a HUGE thanks for unearthing this video and sharing.

Rest of peace John Henry - you were a fighter the likes of which haven't been seen since you left the track. 1975 - 2007.

[lovetheponies]

I agree! The wire photo proves John~John won with a nose hair! He knew how to stretch out and get the win. Jose Mercado and Lewis Cenicola had their hands full in the winner's circle. Have to wonder what John Henry was thinking :-) Love you "The Living Legend" John Henry! See you soon. XOXO Judy (Burbank) BC thanks for this great posting!

[jhhorse]

This video should settle the question whether John Henry beat The Bart. A straight on

the wire view shows JH getting his nose down first and the photo confirmed it.

John was a real handful of horse in the winner's circle too. Two courageous horses

battling tenaciously, it's too bad one of them had to come in second. John Henry shows why he was to become a force to be reckoned with. Outstanding video!