Chance Play

Chance Play (foaled 1923) was an American Champion Thoroughbred racehorse and Champion sire. In a career which lasted from 1925 to 1928 he ran in thirty-nine races and won sixteen of them. Although he was successful in his early career over sprint distances, he did not reach his peak until the age of four in 1927, when he was arguably the best horse in the United States, winning several major races including the two-mile Jockey Club Gold Cup.

Chance Play
SireFair Play
GrandsireHastings
DamQuelle Chance
DamsireEthelbert
SexStallion
Foaled1923
CountryUnited States
ColourChestnut
BreederAugust Belmont Jr.
OwnerLog Cabin Stable
Trainer1) Louis Feustel
2) G. Hamilton Keene (7/1926)
3) John I. Smith (1927)
4) George M. Odom (1928)
Record39: 16-9-2
EarningsUS$137,946
Major wins
Youthful Stakes (1925)
Campfire Handicap (1926)
Potomac Handicap (1926)
Merchants and Citizens Handicap (1927)
Jockey Club Gold Cup (1927)
Lincoln Handicap (1927)
Saratoga Cup (1927)
Havre de Grace Handicap (1927)
Toboggan Handicap (1927)
Aqueduct Handicap (1928)
Combat Handicap (1928)
Continental Handicap (1928)
Awards
American Horse of the Year (1927)
American Champion Older Male Horse (1927)
Leading sire in North America (1935, 1944)
Honours
Chance Play Purse at Sportsman's Park
Last updated on January 16, 2021

Background

Bred by August Belmont Jr., he was out of the mare Quelle Chance, a daughter of 1900 Metropolitan Handicap winner, Ethelbert. He was sired by Fair Play who also sired Man o' War. Chance Play was as well a full brother to 1927 Belmont Stakes winner, Chance Shot.[1]

In 1923, New York city financiers W. Averell Harriman and Bert Walker bought a stable of Thoroughbred horses which they raced under the nom de course Log Cabin Stable, sporting orange and white silks. As part of a private purchase of twenty horses, in January 1925 Harriman and Walker acquired Chance Play from the estate of August Belmont Jr.[2] Chance Play was conditioned for racing by Louis Feustel who had been the trainer of Man o' War.[3]

Racing career

1925: two-year-old season

Racing at age two, the colt won his May 12, 1925 debut at Jamaica Race Course in Jamaica, New York. Four days later he got the most important win of the when he captured the Youthful Stakes on the same racetrack.[4] During the remainder of 1925, Chance Play was outshone by William Coe's outstanding colt, Pompey to whom he finished third in the two most important races of the year for two-year-olds, the August 29 Hopeful Stakes[5] at Saratoga Race Course and the September 12 Futurity Stakes at Belmont Park.[6]

1926: three-year-old season

As a three-year-old, Chance Play won the June 7, 1926 Campfire Handicap, a six-furlong dash for three-year-olds at Belmont Park.[7] He did not run in any of the Triple Crown races as it was uncertain if he could handle any distance beyond six furlongs.

In July, Louis Feustel resigned as the Log Cabin Stable trainer.[8] Although he was replaced by John Smith, conditioning for Chance Play was handed over to G. Hamilton Keene, trainer for the stable of Joseph E. Widener.[9]

Chance Play's only other win of significance in 1926 came in early October when he had strengthened enough to run at longer distances and at Maryland's Havre de Grace Racetrack he defeated Pompey to win the mile and a sixteenth Potomac Handicap.[10] A disagreement between the two owners of Log Cabin Stable in the fall of 1926 led to the partnership being dissolved and Averell Harriman became the stable's sole owner.[11]

1927: four-year-old season

Trainer Hamilton Keene died in January 1927 and John Smith took over. The winner of several of the year's top events, including the Merchants and Citizens Handicap, Jockey Club Gold Cup and Toboggan Handicap, Chance Play has been retrospectively selected the 1927 American Champion Older Male Horse and Horse of the Year,[12] although no such award was made at the time.

1928: five-year-old season

Chance Play continued to race at age five in 1928 but under a new trainer, the future Hall of Fame inductee George M. Odom[13] for whom he won the Aqueduct, Combat and Continental Handicaps.

Stud record

Retired to stud duty, Chance Play initially stood in New York but Warren Wright purchased him for $70,000 and brought him to stand at his Calumet Farm.[14] The leading sire in North America in 1935 and 1944, Chance Play was the sire of twenty-three stakes winners and the broodmare sire of twenty stakes winners. Among his progeny were:

The grandsire of Piet, whose wins included three consecutive editions of the Jamaica Handicap, Chance Play was also the damsire of Next Move, the 1950 American Champion Three-Year-Old Filly and 1952 American Champion Older Female Horse.

Sire line tree

Pedigree
Pedigree of Chance Play, 1923[16]
Sire
Fair Play		 Hastings Spendthrift Australian
Aerolite
Cinderella Tomahawk
Manna
Fairy Gold Bend Or Doncaster
Rouge Rose
Dame Masham Galliard
Pauline
Dam
Quelle Chance		 Ethelbert Eothen Hampton
Sultana
Maori Poulet
Queen of Cyprus
Qu'elle Est Belle II Rock Sand Sainfoin
Roquebrune
Queen's Bower St. Florian
Gipsy Queen

Chance Play is shown as descending from family 3-c,[17] which traces back to the Whisker Mare and ultimately back to Snapdragon in family 3. However, the female descendants of his sixth-dam Coterie have a type of mitochondrial DNA that is inconsistent with other descendants of this family. As mitochondrial DNA is passed exclusively in the female line, this indicates a pedigree error occurred at some point between Snapdragon's foaling in 1759 and Coterie's in 1862.[18][19]

References
  1. Hunter, Avalyn. "Chance Play (horse)". American Classic Pedigrees. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
  2. New York Times - January 15, 1925
  3. St. Petersburg, Florida Evening Independent - May 14, 1925
  4. New York Times - May 17, 1925
  5. New York Times - August 30, 1925
  6. Los Angeles Times - September 13, 1925
  7. Miami News - June 8, 1926
  8. New York Times - July 15, 1926
  9. New York Times July 20, 1926
  10. New York Times - October 3, 1926
  11. February 1, 2008 New York Times books excerpt from The Bush Tragedy by Jacob Weisberg
  12. Thoroughbred Heritage American Horse of the Year selections
  13. Wilmington, Delaware Sunday Morning Star - September 9, 1928
  14. Los Angeles times - May 12, 1937
  15. American Classic Pedigree: Chance Play
  16. "Pedigree of Chance Play". Equineline. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
  17. "Thoroughbred Bloodlines - Whisker Mare - Family 3-c". www.bloodlines.net. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
  18. "Thoroughbred Bloodlines - Family 3-c Coterie". www.bloodlines.net. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
  19. "Thoroughbred Bloodlines - Bowes' Byerley Turk Mare - Family 3 Index". www.bloodlines.net. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
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