NEWS
Rubin, owner of John Henry, dies at 91
Posted: Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Sam Rubin, who campaigned two-time Horse of the Year John Henry with his wife, Dorothy, died on February 13 in Palm Beach, Florida. He was 91.
The Rubins, who raced as Dotsam Stable, received the 1981 Eclipse Award as outstanding owner after John Henry won five Grade 1 races that year, including the Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes (G1) and Santa Anita Handicap (G1) as well as the inaugural edition of the Arlington Million Invitational, which was Thoroughbred racing's first $1-million race.
Sam Rubin, who sold imported bicycles in New York, purchased John Henry sight unseen for $25,000 three years earlier. At the time, John Henry was racing in allowance and claiming events.
After Rubin transferred John Henry to trainer Lefty Nickerson in 1979 and to Ron McAnally in 1980, the Ole Bob Bowers gelding ascended to racing's highest levels in a remarkable career highlighted by 30 stakes wins, including 16 Grade 1 triumphs, and seven Eclipse Awards. He was Horse of the Year in 1981 and '84, champion turf male in 1980, '81, '83, and '84, and champion older male in 1981. He retired at the end of his nine-year-old season in 1984 as Thoroughbred racing's all-time leading earner with a bankroll of $6,591,860. He was inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame in 1990. Overall, John Henry won 39 races in 83 career starts.
"For John Henry, I did only two things that were important," Rubin told the Horsemen's Journal in 1981. "Everything else he did for himself. First, I got him two of the best trainers there are, in Nickerson and McAnally. And I was the guy who made the final decision, after Lefty's urging, to send him to his friend Ron in California rather than keep him in the East. The decision to send him to California was terribly important to the success that followed."
The Rubins retired John Henry to the
Kentucky Horse Park in
Lexington, where he resides at age 31. The Rubins visited him there in 2003 and agreed to donate his trophies to the horse park.
