Stage Door Johnny (USA)
May 22, 1965 – November 21, 1996
Prince John (USA) x Peroxide Blonde (USA), by Ballymoss (GB)
Family 1-l
May 22, 1965 – November 21, 1996
Prince John (USA) x Peroxide Blonde (USA), by Ballymoss (GB)
Family 1-l
If Stage Door Johnny had done no more than defeat Forward Pass in the Belmont Stakes, he would be remembered as the horse who saved American racing from a Triple Crown tarnished by the fact that Forward Pass won the Kentucky Derby by disqualification. He did more than that, however. Though his racing career was brief, he did enough to be voted a shared championship with Forward Pass in the American 3-year-old male division, and he also became a fine sire and broodmare sire.
Race record
8 starts, 5 wins, 2 seconds, 1 third, US$223,965
1968:
Honors
Assessments
Rated atop the Daily Racing Form's Free Handicap for American 3-year-old males of 1968 with 130 pounds, 1 more than the other co-champion, Forward Pass.
As an individual
A chestnut, Stage Door Johnny was considered a well-conformed horse of the staying type with excellent bone and substance and a fluid, collected action. His ankles were fired when he was a juvenile, suggesting that they were less than ideal. He was retired due to a bowed tendon suffered while he was training for the 1968 Travers Stakes.
As a stallion
Stage Door Johnny sired 297 winners (49.7%) and 52 stakes winners (8.7%) from 597 named foals according to records kept by The Jockey Club. He is a Solid/Professional chef-de-race in the Roman-Miller dosage system.
Notable progeny
Class Play (USA), Johnny D. (USA), Johnny's Image (USA), Late Bloomer (USA), One on the Aisle (USA), Open Call (USA), Southern Sultan (USA)
Notable progeny of daughters
Corrazona (USA), Diapason (USA), Ends Well (USA), Open Mind (USA), Pleasant Stage (USA), Pleasant Tap (USA), Rainbow Connection (CAN), Red Roses Story (FR), Thirty Six Red (USA)
Connections
Foaled in Kentucky, Stage Door Johnny was bred by Greentree Stud and raced for Greentree Stable, both owned by John Hay “Jock” Whitney and his sister Joan Whitney Payson (the wife of Charles Shipman Payson). The colt was trained by John M. Gaver. He stood at Greentree Stud and was part of the package when Gainesway Farm took the property over from Greentree in 1989. He died there seven years later.
Pedigree notes
Stage Door Johnny is outcrossed through five generations. The first foal of his dam, he is a half brother to Blue Period (by Arts and Letters), dam of multiple Canadian stakes winners Baladi (by Irish Castle) and Splurge a Little (by Cannonade) and second dam of multiple Grade 3 winner Dusty Screen. He is also a half brother to Prom Date (by Arts and Letters), dam of multiple listed stakes winner Special Weekend (by Buckaroo) and third dam of two-time Peruvian champion grass mare Pigricia.
Stage Door Johnny is out of Peroxide Blonde, a half sister to 1959 French champion 3-year-old filly Mi Carina (by Ocarina),1958 Princess Royal Stakes winner Mother Goose (by Escamillo) and 1967 Gazelle Handicap and Ladies Handicap winner Sweet Folly (by Tom Fool). The last-named mare is the dam of Grade 2 winner Jack Sprat (by Prince John) and stakes winner Absent Minded (by Arts and Letters). Peroxide Blonde is also a half sister to stakes-placed Old England (by Wild Risk), third dam of 2008 Prix du Jockey Club (French Derby, FR-G1) winner Vision d'Etat.
Peroxide Blonde and her siblings were produced from the stakes-placed Caldarium mare Folie Douce, a full sister to 1954 Prix Henri Delamarre winner Hidalgo and a half sister to 1950 Prix de Minerve winner Nuit de Folies (by Tornado). Nuit de Folies, in turn, is the dam of 1957 Michigan Mile and One-Sixteenth winner My Night Out (by Phalanx), 1961 Del Mar Derby winner and 1985 American champion broodmare sire Speak John (by Prince John) and minor stakes winner London Jet (by Ridan) and is the second dam of 1973 Cotillion Handicap (USA-G1) winner Lilac Hill, 1976 Gran Premio di Milano (ITY-G1) winner Rouge Sang and 1963 Astoria Stakes winner Miss Twist. Produced from 1943 Prix Vermeille winner Folle Nuit (by Astrophel), Folie Douce is also a half sister to 1959 Prix de Minerve winner Mandolina (by Ocarina) and 1960 Grand Prix du Printemps winner Negresco (by Sica Boy).
Books and media
Stage Door Johnny is profiled in Chapter 9 of Avalyn Hunter's American Classic Pedigrees 1914-2002 (2003, Eclipse Press).
Fun facts
Last updated: June 17, 2022
Race record
8 starts, 5 wins, 2 seconds, 1 third, US$223,965
1968:
- Won Belmont Stakes (USA, 12FD, Aqueduct)
- Won Dwyer Handicap (USA, 10FD, Aqueduct)
- Won Saranac Handicap (USA, 8FD, Belmont)
Honors
- Aiken Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame (inducted in 1977)
- American co-champion 3-year-old male (1988)
Assessments
Rated atop the Daily Racing Form's Free Handicap for American 3-year-old males of 1968 with 130 pounds, 1 more than the other co-champion, Forward Pass.
As an individual
A chestnut, Stage Door Johnny was considered a well-conformed horse of the staying type with excellent bone and substance and a fluid, collected action. His ankles were fired when he was a juvenile, suggesting that they were less than ideal. He was retired due to a bowed tendon suffered while he was training for the 1968 Travers Stakes.
As a stallion
Stage Door Johnny sired 297 winners (49.7%) and 52 stakes winners (8.7%) from 597 named foals according to records kept by The Jockey Club. He is a Solid/Professional chef-de-race in the Roman-Miller dosage system.
Notable progeny
Class Play (USA), Johnny D. (USA), Johnny's Image (USA), Late Bloomer (USA), One on the Aisle (USA), Open Call (USA), Southern Sultan (USA)
Notable progeny of daughters
Corrazona (USA), Diapason (USA), Ends Well (USA), Open Mind (USA), Pleasant Stage (USA), Pleasant Tap (USA), Rainbow Connection (CAN), Red Roses Story (FR), Thirty Six Red (USA)
Connections
Foaled in Kentucky, Stage Door Johnny was bred by Greentree Stud and raced for Greentree Stable, both owned by John Hay “Jock” Whitney and his sister Joan Whitney Payson (the wife of Charles Shipman Payson). The colt was trained by John M. Gaver. He stood at Greentree Stud and was part of the package when Gainesway Farm took the property over from Greentree in 1989. He died there seven years later.
Pedigree notes
Stage Door Johnny is outcrossed through five generations. The first foal of his dam, he is a half brother to Blue Period (by Arts and Letters), dam of multiple Canadian stakes winners Baladi (by Irish Castle) and Splurge a Little (by Cannonade) and second dam of multiple Grade 3 winner Dusty Screen. He is also a half brother to Prom Date (by Arts and Letters), dam of multiple listed stakes winner Special Weekend (by Buckaroo) and third dam of two-time Peruvian champion grass mare Pigricia.
Stage Door Johnny is out of Peroxide Blonde, a half sister to 1959 French champion 3-year-old filly Mi Carina (by Ocarina),1958 Princess Royal Stakes winner Mother Goose (by Escamillo) and 1967 Gazelle Handicap and Ladies Handicap winner Sweet Folly (by Tom Fool). The last-named mare is the dam of Grade 2 winner Jack Sprat (by Prince John) and stakes winner Absent Minded (by Arts and Letters). Peroxide Blonde is also a half sister to stakes-placed Old England (by Wild Risk), third dam of 2008 Prix du Jockey Club (French Derby, FR-G1) winner Vision d'Etat.
Peroxide Blonde and her siblings were produced from the stakes-placed Caldarium mare Folie Douce, a full sister to 1954 Prix Henri Delamarre winner Hidalgo and a half sister to 1950 Prix de Minerve winner Nuit de Folies (by Tornado). Nuit de Folies, in turn, is the dam of 1957 Michigan Mile and One-Sixteenth winner My Night Out (by Phalanx), 1961 Del Mar Derby winner and 1985 American champion broodmare sire Speak John (by Prince John) and minor stakes winner London Jet (by Ridan) and is the second dam of 1973 Cotillion Handicap (USA-G1) winner Lilac Hill, 1976 Gran Premio di Milano (ITY-G1) winner Rouge Sang and 1963 Astoria Stakes winner Miss Twist. Produced from 1943 Prix Vermeille winner Folle Nuit (by Astrophel), Folie Douce is also a half sister to 1959 Prix de Minerve winner Mandolina (by Ocarina) and 1960 Grand Prix du Printemps winner Negresco (by Sica Boy).
Books and media
Stage Door Johnny is profiled in Chapter 9 of Avalyn Hunter's American Classic Pedigrees 1914-2002 (2003, Eclipse Press).
Fun facts
- In theater slang, a “stage door Johnny” is a man who waits outside the cast entrance to a theater or other performance venue hoping to make the acquaintance of a female performer in the show.
- The Belmont Stakes was Stage Door Johnny's first stakes start and first stakes victory. While he had previously won the Peter Pan Purse, which later became the Peter Pan Stakes and an important Belmont Stakes prep race, the Peter Pan was an allowance race at the time that Stage Door Johnny won it.
- During his years in the stud, Stage Door Johnny struck up a close friendship with his fellow Belmont Stakes winner Arts and Letters, who had the adjoining paddock. The two stallions routinely raced each other up and down the parallel fences of their paddocks and, when too old for that, were usually found dozing in corners immediately opposite one another. Their attachment was such that when the Greentree property was sold to Gainesway, the contract stipulated that Stage Door Johnny and Arts and Letters would continue to have adjoining paddocks. The stallions remained pasture buddies until Stage Door Johnny's death.
- A smaller copy of Stage Door Johnny's Belmont Stakes trophy that was presented to his groom, Charles Carter, was auctioned through Leland's, an auction house specializing in sports memorabilia, in 2015. It was sold for US$7,229.75.
Last updated: June 17, 2022