THE HALL OF CHAMPIONS
By: Tom Ferry
On a beautiful afternoon in the spring of 2006, I walked into the Hall of Champions at the Kentucky Horse Park for the first time. A horse gazed out at me from the first stall on the right. My heart skipped a beat as the nameplate on the door said Cigar. To my immediate left, the stall’s door opening was filled with a horse’s large backside. I would later learn this was the most pleasant greeting I could expect from the great John Henry. Up and down the corridor were stalls occupied by notable champions from the racetrack and the show ring. Both then and now, it is one of the closest places to horse heaven you’re likely to find here on earth.
The Kentucky Horse Park opened in 1978 and is Kentucky’s largest state-owned tourist attraction. Set on more than 1,200 acres in Lexington Kentucky, the park is a premier international equine theme park dedicated to celebrating man’s relationship with the horse through education, exhibition, engagement and competition.
In 1979, a horse van arrived at the park carrying eight-time Eclipse Award champion and three-time Horse of the Year Forego. The Hall of Champions was born. For the next 18 years until his death at age 27, the immortal racehorse would greet and entertain millions of fans and visitors. During the following decade, the Hall of Champions added legends from multiple breeds including champion Quarter Horse Sgt. Pepper Feature, the great five-gaited American Saddlebred CH Imperator, and the incredible harness racing star known as “The Horse that God Loved,” Rambling Willie.
If Forego helped put the Kentucky Horse Park on the map, John Henry elevated it to the next level. When the irascible yet beloved gelding joined the Hall of Champions in 1986, the attention he brought to the Kentucky Horse Park contributed to what is today an annual draw of nearly 800,000 visitors. Most fans who traveled from all parts of the country and world to visit him walked away with a unique, lasting memory. There were the 200 or so fans who showed up for both his 30th and 32nd birthday celebrations. John’s one-time jockey Chris McCarron was a regular visitor and was there to say goodbye to his friend during his final hours.
In 1999, a new resident joined the Hall of Champions. He was unconquerable, invincible and unbeatable. He was Cigar. While John Henry was ranked by the Blood-Horse as the 23rd top Thoroughbred racehorse of the 20th Century, Cigar ranked 18. They were the highest ranked living racehorses in the world and lived directly across the aisle from one another. As a matter of fact, the duo would race each other up and down their parallel paddocks and you would have been hard-pressed to find a greater match race in the sport’s history.
During the Hall of Champions’ 40 years, approximately 22 legends have lived in this incredible barn. These include Thoroughbred Hall of Famers Point Given and Alysheba, Kentucky Derby winners Bold Forbes, Funny Cide and Go For Gin, and Breeders’ Cup victors Kona Gold and Da Hoss. Nobody has lived in the Hall longer than 1993’s Harness Racing Horse of the Year Staying Together (24 years and counting), and Quarter Horse champion Be A Bono and Standardbred great Mr. Muscleman have been in love with one another since they joined the Hall in 2009.
While countless Kentucky Horse Park visitors have fond memories of the equine heroes they’ve met over the years, special relationships have also been formed with the dedicated Hall of Champions staff and volunteers as well. There is 92-year-old Gene Carter who may be the last person alive to sit on the back of the great Man o’ War as a youth. When Gene’s wife died in 2003, he wanted to get out of the house and subsequently began working full-time at the Hall. Most special in the hearts of so many is the late Cathy Roby. The longtime Hall of Champions manager worked at the Hall for 20 years until her death in 2011 at age 62. Roby was probably best known as John Henry’s closest companion at the Horse Park and cared for him during his final 16 years. Others who have left their mark on the Hall include Wes Lanter, Tammy Siters, Robin Bush, Barbara Ratteree and so many others.
Today, the Hall of Champions is home to eight retired Thoroughbred, Quarter Horse and Standardbred racing legends. The horses are paraded in presentations twice a day from April through November. The performances can be quite moving with video clips highlighting the particular champion’s racing career before each is escorted individually into the circular pavilion to the applause of visitors. While there are no formal presentations in December through March, visitors can still stop by the stalls and adjoining paddocks and interact with these ambassadors for the breed and the sport.
As visitors enter the long, paddock-lined walkway that leads to the entrance of the Hall of Champions, they are met by an honor guard of three sculptured bronze statues atop graves showcasing the final resting spots for John Henry, Alysheba and Cigar. On the opposite side of the Hall’s barn and beyond the show pavilion is the Memorial Walk of Champions. A serene, tree-lined path lets you stroll by more than ten graves of past equine residents of the Hall including the mighty Forego. Each tombstone contains an affectionate phrase about the horse and what they meant to fans and the Kentucky Horse Park alike. The one anomaly along this path is the grave of Invisible Ink. The 2001 Kentucky Derby runner-up never lived at the Horse Park, yet was loved by so many racing fans across America for his courage. So he was given a final resting place here among the greats. The phrase on Inky’s tombstone says, “The Heart of a Champion Beats Forever.”
It is a testament that could be said of every one of the residents of this incredible place…past and present.