Page 56 - Canada Spring 2019

that carried only “the bravest and the best” is going. Ping pong balls could ride in the cavities of his sunken temples and never fall. But he is still the Johnny Dial. A few
of us spent the day with him last December, when the temperature was dropping fast and snow was on the way. During those hours, we saw everything people have talked about for more than 28 years. We believe we found the secret of The Dial Getaway. He was standing as he was reported to have stood in the gate
– looking sleepy, a hind leg cocked. The next second, he was in a slow, gentlemanly lope. What happened
is that he made his starting jump with his weight on three legs. The hind foot that had been cocked came down a fraction of a second after his forefeet landed. The forefeet went up immediately. For a moment or two, his only contact with the ground was
that hind foot. Then, the forefeet came down again, and off he went. The smooth “double shuffle” he performed made his starting jump seem extra long. Maybe that was
his secret all the time. Johnny Dial still yawns, drawing it out, enjoying every minute of it. The fans of this grand old campaigner will be happy to know that Johnny’s half of the Quonset hut is equipped with an abundant number of heat lamps. They flick on softly, like spotlights, when the temperature reaches 45 degrees. When the discovery of the heat lamps was made, someone accused Earl of breaking his rule of “no fancy trappings.” He just said, “I wish it was as easy to stop time’s clock on Johnny Dial as it is to keep him warm.”
The entire basement of the Shapiro home in Festus has been converted into a giant recreation room with many comfortable
conversation corners. The room
is dominated by a four-by-six
foot portrait of Little Hairball. Spreading away from both sides
of the portrait – lining walls, table tops and shelves, are smaller photos and dozens of trophies, mostly earned by the Johnny Dial family. It was here that Earl Shapiro expressed his feelings about Johnny Dial.
“I grew up the hard way. Money wasn’t exactly laying around. Even when things got better for me, my bankroll still couldn’t stand building a top broodmare bond. I wanted
to breed to Johnny Dial because I had figured out that he could get quality without a lot of help, and I didn’t have top caliber mares. But looking at the stud fee on him, and at the miles to travel to get to him, well, money was still a problem. So I finally took the step and bought him, and he did what I needed and was hoping for. In fact, he turned me into the eighth leading breeder of winners in the country in 1974. Now I have his daughters and granddaughters out there. When it comes to bloodlines, I will compare my mares with anyone’s.
“He was an excellent producer for me for several years. I had all kinds of opportunities to sell him, but wouldn’t have done it at any price and still wouldn’t. Then he got sick, very sick. I don’t want to go into all of it, it would take too long to tell, but it was bad, real bad. I took him to the University of Missouri and thought along the way that I might not be coming back with him. There is no way I can tell you how it hurt, thinking that.
“Well, he went through serious and complicated surgery, and it was
56 SPEEDHORSE CANADA, Spring 2019
LOOKING BACK - AN EXCERPT FROM JANUARY 1978 ISSUE
© Lynn Jank
Johnny Dial at 29 in Festus, Missouri, in 1977. “Temperature dropping. Snow beginning to fall,” stated Speedhorse writer Lynn Jank. “Everyone I talked to wanted to know if he still stood with a hind leg cocked.”