| Chance Play | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Sire | Fair Play |
| Grandsire | Hastings |
| Dam | Quelle Chance |
| Damsire | Ethelbert |
| Sex | Stallion |
| Foaled | 1923 |
| Country | United States |
| Colour | Chestnut |
| Breeder | August Belmont Jr. |
| Owner | Log Cabin Stable |
| Trainer | 1)Louis Feustel 2)G. Hamilton Keene (7/1926) 3)John I. Smith (1927) 4)George M. Odom (1928) |
| Record | 39: 16-9-2 |
| Earnings | US$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 atSportsman's Park | |
| Last updated on January 16, 2021 | |
Chance Play (foaled 1923) was an American ChampionThoroughbredracehorse and Championsire. 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 theUnited States, winning several major races including the two-mileJockey Club Gold Cup.
Bred byAugust Belmont Jr., he was out of the mare Quelle Chance, a daughter of 1900Metropolitan Handicap winner,Ethelbert. He was sired byFair Play who also siredMan o' War, widely regarded as one of the greatest racehorses of all time. Chance Play was as well a full brother to 1927Belmont Stakes winner,Chance Shot.[1]
In 1923,New York City financiersW. Averell Harriman andBert Walker bought a stable of Thoroughbred horses which they raced under thenom de courseLog 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 ofAugust Belmont Jr.[2] Chance Play was conditioned for racing byLouis Feustel who had been the trainer of Man o' War.[3]
Racing at age two, the colt won his May 12, 1925 debut atJamaica Race Course inJamaica, New York. Four days later he got the most important win of the when he captured theYouthful Stakes on the same racetrack.[4] During the remainder of 1925, Chance Play was outshone byWilliam 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 29Hopeful Stakes[5] atSaratoga Race Course and the September 12Futurity Stakes atBelmont Park.[6]
As a three-year-old, Chance Play won the June 7, 1926 Campfire Handicap, a six-furlong dash for three-year-olds atBelmont Park.[7] He did not run in any of theTriple 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 byJohn Smith, conditioning for Chance Play was handed over toG. Hamilton Keene, trainer for the stable ofJoseph 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 atMaryland'sHavre de Grace Racetrack he defeated Pompey to win the mile and a sixteenthPotomac 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]
Trainer Hamilton Keene died in January 1927 and John Smith took over. The winner of several of the year's top events, including theMerchants and Citizens Handicap,Jockey Club Gold Cup andToboggan Handicap, Chance Play has been retrospectively selected the 1927American Champion Older Male Horse andHorse of the Year,[12] although no such award was made at the time.
Chance Play continued to race at age five in 1928 but under a new trainer, the future Hall of Fame inducteeGeorge M. Odom[13] for whom he won theAqueduct, Combat and Continental Handicaps.
Retired tostud duty, Chance Play initially stood in New York butWarren Wright purchased him for $70,000 and brought him to stand at hisCalumet Farm.[14] Theleading 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 ofPiet, whose wins included three consecutive editions of theJamaica Handicap, Chance Play was also the damsire ofNext Move, the 1950American Champion Three-Year-Old Filly and 1952American Champion Older Female Horse.
| 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 fromfamily 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 ofmitochondrial 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]