Former dual Miracle Mile winner passes away

4 October 2026

ADAM HAMILTON 

BE Good Johnny was the ultimate family horse.

The superstar late bloomer, who won 48 races including two Miracle Miles, passed away at the age of 26 in the paddock he spent his adoring retirement in at John and Narelle McCarthys property early last week.

It was though he knew it was time.

“Dad loved him, we all did,” Luke McCarthy said. “Dad would go and visit him each day in his paddock.

“He went up last Monday because he was leaving the next day to go to the (United) States to visit the boys (Andy and Todd McCarthy) and after he patted ‘Johnny’, the horse just laid down and passed away.

“It was a beautiful way to go and so fitting given the bond between he and Dad and what he meant to us all.

“We all good to drive him at the races, Dad, myself, Andy and Todd. That’s so special.”

Be Good Johnny and Slipnslide, who raced at the same time in the mid-2000s, were the two horses who propelled the McCarthy clan to Australian-wide stardom.

“We’d had nice horses like Cobbity Classic and Trois Frere before them, but they were next level and went to all the big races, year-after-year,” Luke McCarthy said.

Despite racing until he was four, Be Good Johnny made an instant impact winning 16 of his first 17 starts and 22 of his first 24.

The son of Fake Left won his first Miracle Mile just 20 months after having his first start.

Be Good Johnny had won a Group 1 Trans-Tasman (Grand Circuit race at the time) before that and then added a Victoria Cup at his next start after that 2005 Miracle Mile.

Those three “mega” wins cemented him the Grand Circuit champion title for the 2005/06 season.

He became the first Queensland-trained pacer to win the crown.

Only all-time greats Blacks A Fake and Leap To Fame have been able to do so since when trained in Queensland.

He returned and successfully defended his Miracle Mile crown when he led throughout from gate one in 2006. He is one of just 10 horses to win two or more Miracle Miles.

Although was a later starter and didn’t bank any juvenile money, Be Good Johnny went on to race 123 times for 48 wins, 22 seconds, 16 thirds and earn $1,671,405.

He is a member of the Queensland Harness Racing Hall of Fame and has a feature race, the Be Good Johnny Sprint, named in his honour.