It seemed only fitting that on the last day that horses were permitted to train over the one-mile oval at the Bowie Training Center, one of its former residents – Little Bold John – was selected as one of only two horses for the 2015 class of the Maryland-bred Thoroughbred Hall of Fame. During a ceremony last week at Pimlico Race Course, where Little Bold John won several stakes, including the Grade III John B. Campbell Handicap and the Maryland Million Classic in 1987, the late gelding was officially inducted.
During a stellar career in which he won 38 of 105 races and earned over $2 million, with 25 victories coming in stakes, Little Bold John spent every morning at the Bowie Training Center in John “Jerry” Robb’s barn. A gelded son of John Alden born in 1982, Little Bold John actually made four starts at Bowie before the track closed in 1985. Strangely, he did not win any of those races. He certainly made up for that at other tracks, however, winning on dirt and turf and capturing several graded stakes, including the Grade II Donn Handicap at Gulfstream Park on March 14, 1987, when he upset reigning horse of the year, Lady’s Secret, for the most prestigious victory of his career.
“That win in the Donn, plus the Maryland Million Classic and the General George (in 1989) were the three races that I will remember the most,” Robb said. “The Donn was the biggest win of his career, but it was great for him to win the Maryland Million Classic and then come back nearly two years later and win the General George. A lot of people were starting the write him off heading into the General George, but he circled the field to win that race. He was such a smart horse with so much heart. I’ve trained horses with more talent, but none with as much heart. I keep waiting for another one like him to come around.”
Little Bold John, who passed away in 2003 at the age of 21, joins Awad, perhaps best known for his wins on the grass, as the 2015 Maryland-bred Thoroughbred Hall of Fame inductees. They are the 15th and 16th horses, respectively, to join the Hall of Fame since it was created in 2013 as a joint venture between the Maryland Horse Breeders Association and the Maryland Racing Media Association. Little Bold John is one of only six Maryland-bred runners to earn at least $1 million in his career. Cigar, who earned nearly $10 million, Concern, Broad Brush and Safely Kept have already been inducted in the Hall of Fame. Little Bold John and Awad now join them.
“He definitely deserves to be in the Maryland-bred Hall of Fame,” Robb said. “The state of Maryland has produced some of the best horses ever to compete anywhere and I would put Little Bold John high on that list. He had such a tremendous heart. In his last start (at age 10 in 1992) he led going into the far turn, dropped back to third or fourth and then came on again to win. But he basically did it on three legs. When he came back to the winner’s circle his left hind leg was swollen. That’s when I knew that I had to stop with him. He wanted to win so much he would have just hurt himself more.”
Little Bold John recorded his first victory in his second lifetime start on Oct. 13, 1984 in a maiden special weight event at Laurel Park. But he did not attain his first stakes score until May 11, 1985, when he captured the Edward L. Blake Memorial at Charles Town, a race that track no longer offers. But he rapidly made up for lost time, winning stakes races at Laurel, Pimlico and Thistledowns (in Ohio) and he captured the Jennings Handicap at Laurel in 1986 for the first of four consecutive editions.
But 1987 would prove to be his peak season, as Little Bold John shipped from Bowie to capture the Donn Handicap at Gulfstream Park and later returned closer to home to prevail in the John B. Campbell, the Native Dancer, the Maryland Million Classic and the Jennings. He successfully defended his titles in the Native Dancer and the Jennings in 1988, then scored a huge upset in the Grade II, $200,000 General George Handicap at Laurel in February, 1989. In that race, he rallied from last to capture the seven-furlong event that is now the centerpiece of the track’s Winter Carnival of Racing.
Despite his numerous trips to the winner’s circle, Little Bold John always impressed Robb with his heart and intelligence. One incident at Hal Clagett’s Farm in 1990 still stands out for his former trainer.
“One day I was pulling into the farm and I could see ‘John’ about 500 yards from the fence,” Robb said. “As soon as I pulled in, he started screaming and when I got out of the truck he ran up to the fence. I asked him, ‘What’s wrong, boy?’ and he turned around and there was this giant horse fly on his rear end that he could not swat with his tail. I killed the fly and then he turned around almost to thank me and then he ran off. I’ll never forget that day as long as I live.”
Little Bold John and Awad were formally inducted on the same night that the Maryland Horse Breeders Association hosted its annual awards dinner. Little Bold John and Awad were recognized on the same night that Ben’s Cat, a durable nine-year-old son of Parker’s Storm Cat, which was owned, bred and trained by King T. Leatherbury, took home the title of Maryland-bred horse of the year for a fourth straight year.
