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.
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, widely regarded as one of the greatest racehorses of all time. Chance Play was as well a full brother to 1927 Belmont Stakes winner, Chance Shot.
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.New York Times - January 15, 1925 Chance Play was conditioned for racing by Louis Feustel who had been the trainer of Man o' War.St. Petersburg, Florida Evening Independent - May 14, 1925
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.New York Times - May 17, 1925 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 StakesNew York Times - August 30, 1925 at Saratoga Race Course and the September 12 Futurity Stakes at Belmont Park.Los Angeles Times - September 13, 1925
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.Miami News - June 8, 1926 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.New York Times - July 15, 1926 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.New York Times July 20, 1926
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.New York Times - October 3, 1926 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.February 1, 2008 New York Times books excerpt from The Bush Tragedy by Jacob Weisberg
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,Thoroughbred Heritage American Horse of the Year selections 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. OdomWilmington, Delaware Sunday Morning Star - September 9, 1928 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.Los Angeles times - May 12, 1937 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: Good Gamble (b. 1932) - multiple stakes winning filly whose wins included the Acorn Stakes, Aqueduct Handicap, Test Stakes, Queens County Handicap Psychic Bid (b. 1932) - won Hopeful Stakes, Sanford Stakes Grand Slam (b. 1933) - winner of the Arlington Futurity, Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes Now What (b. 1937) - American Champion Two-Year-Old Filly Some Chance (b. 1939) - multiple stakes winner including the 1942 and 1943 editions of the Roseben Handicap Pot O'Luck (b. 1942) - multiple winner of important races including the Pimlico Futurity, Arlington Classic, Jockey Club Gold Cup and Lawrence Realization Stakes
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
Chance PlaySire Line: MatchemAmerican Classic Pedigree: Chance Play Psychic Bid Grand Slam Piet Some Chance Pot O'Luck Pot Hunter
Pedigree
Chance Play is shown as descending from family 3-c, 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.
References Profile of Chance Play at Thoroughbred Heritage