Sam Rubin, the owner of two-time Horse of the Year John Henry, died February 13 in
Palm Beach, Florida. He was 91.
Rubin raced John Henry with his wife, Dorothy, as Dotsam Stable after
purchasing the gelding for $25,000 in 1978. The former bicycle importer
acquired the Hall of Fame runner while he was racing in the allowance and claiming ranks,
and oversaw John Henry’s rise into the upper echelons of Thoroughbred racing history.
The New York City native shuffled John Henry from coast to coast, housing him
in the shedrow of Victor Nickerson in the east and Ronald McAnally out west, and
won many of America’s most elite competitions. John Henry’s initial stakes start
for Rubin came in the 1978 Lamplighter H. (G3) at
Monmouth Park, where he finished a close third. He ran a head second in the
Lexington H. (G2) at Belmont before finally breaking through with his first
graded stakes success in his
27th start, the Round Table H. (G3), which he dominated by 12 lengths.
John Henry went on to capture 28 more stakes races, including America’s first
$1 million race — the 1981 Arlington Million Invitational — and garnered 16
Grade 1 trophies. The courageous gelding’s accomplishments included another
running of the Arlington Million as well as the Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1),
Hollywood Invitational Turf Cup (G1) and Turf Classic S. (G1). He captured two editions of
the Santa Anita H. (G1) and Hollywood Invitational (G1), and three runnings of the Oak
Tree Invitational (G1).
John Henry was named Horse of the Year twice (1981, 84), champion turf horse
four times (1980, 81, 83, 84) and was also named champion handicap horse in
1981. He retired in 1984 at the age of nine with a record of 81-39-15-9 and
earnings of $6,591,860 as Thoroughbred racing’s all-time leading earner.
The 31-year-old now resides at the Kentucky Horse Park near Lexington,
Kentucky.