Chateaugay (horse)
Encyclopedia
Chateaugay was an American
Thoroughbred
Champion
racehorse
who won two of the three U.S. Triple Crown races. Bred at Darby Dan Farm
near Lexington, Kentucky
by his prominent owner, John W. Galbreath, Chateaugay was a son of Swaps
, the 1956 U.S. Horse of the Year
and a Racing Hall of Fame
inductee.
Racing at age two for future U.S. Hall of Fame trainer James P. Conway
, Chateaugay showed limited promise, winning two of five starts but without a victory in a stakes race. At age three, the colt began to develop and after winning the Blue Grass Stakes
at Keeneland Race Course was sent to compete in America's most prestigious race, the Kentucky Derby
.
for a race that featured three Thoroughbred stars. TIME
magazine reported jockey Eddie Arcaro
as saying: "I can't remember a Derby creating so much excitement." http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,830301,00.html
Leading up to the big race, Rex C. Ellsworth's undefeated Candy Spots
had been the most impressive in winning the Florida Derby
and the Santa Anita Derby
. At the same time, a Greentree Stable
colt named No Robbery
had won the Wood Memorial Stakes
and he too came into the Derby undefeated. Then, there was Harry F. Guggenheim's formidable 1962 U.S. 2-Year-old Champion Colt
and 1963 Flamingo Stakes
winner, Never Bend
. By post time, bettors
had made Candy Spots the 3-2 favorite, No Robbery the second choice at 5-2, and Never Bend the third pick at odds of 3-1. Even though he came into the race undefeated at three (3-3) including a win in April's Blue Grass Stakes, Chateaugay was all but ignored amid the hype surrounding the three star horses and was sent off at 9-1 odds.
When the gate opened, Never Bend quickly took the lead and by the ¼ mile mark No Robbery had moved into second place along the inside rail with Candy Spots sitting a well-positioned third. After running in sixth place through the first three-quarters of a mile, coming out of the backstretch Chateaugay moved to the far outside and raced into fourth place behind the three leaders. As they turned for home, jockey Braulio Baeza
spotted an opening between the second-and-third-place horses. He raced through it to pull alongside Never Bend and then moved ahead to win the race by 1¼ lengths.
In the Preakness Stakes
at Pimlico Race Course
in Baltimore, Maryland, Chateaugay again faced both Candy Spots and Never Bend. Five days before the race, he got away from his exercise rider and equalled Pimlico's track record, working a mile in 1:37 3/5. Bettors made Candy Spots the favorite. As they had in the Derby, Never Bend charged out to an early lead with Candy Spots comfortably sitting in third. Once again, Chateaugay was far back, running seventh in the eight-horse field. As they turned onto the homestretch Chateaugay made his move and soon caught and passed Never Bend who had fallen behind the now front-running Candy Spots. This time, Chateaugay could not catch the leader and finished second, 3½ lengths back.
As a result of major renovations in progress at New York's
Belmont Park
, the 1963 Belmont Stakes
was run at Aqueduct Racetrack
. As he had been in the Derby and Preakness, Candy Spots was the betting favorite for this the longest and most demanding of the Triple Crown races. Sent off at 9-2 odds, Chateaugay repeated his running style from the previous two Classics and was well back of the leaders. Once again, while other horses began to tire during the 1½ mile race, in the stretch, Chateaugay stormed past Candy Spots and pulled away to win by a widening 2½ lengths.
Chateaugay went on to capture the 1963 Jerome Handicap but finished third in the Dwyer
and Travers Stakes
. He was raced at age four and five with limited success before being retired to stud
duty at Darby Dan Farm. His progeny met with only modest racing success with perhaps his best being the colt True Knight who won several stakes races including the Jerome
and Suburban Handicap
s.
In 1971, Chateaugay became the first Kentucky Derby winner to be sold to Japan
ese interests. From 1972 until his death in 1985, he stood at a breeding farm in Japan where he sired the 1981 Champion juvenile colt, Hokuto Flag.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Thoroughbred
Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...
Champion
Eclipse Award
The Eclipse Award is an American thoroughbred horse racing award named after the 18th century British racehorse and sire, Eclipse. The Eclipse Awards, honoring the champions of the sport, are sponsored by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association , Daily Racing Form and the National Turf Writers...
racehorse
Horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...
who won two of the three U.S. Triple Crown races. Bred at Darby Dan Farm
Darby Dan Farm
Darby Dan Farm is a produce, livestock, and thoroughbred horse breeding and training farm founded in 1935 near the Darby Creek in Galloway, Ohio by businessman John W. Galbreath. Named for the creek and for Galbreath's son, Daniel M. Galbreath , it was expanded from an original farm into a 4,000...
near Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the 63rd largest in the US. Known as the "Thoroughbred City" and the "Horse Capital of the World", it is located in the heart of Kentucky's Bluegrass region...
by his prominent owner, John W. Galbreath, Chateaugay was a son of Swaps
Swaps (horse)
Swaps was a California bred American thoroughbred racehorse. He was the son of Khaled, a stallion imported from the Aga Khan's stud in Europe. Swaps goes back to the immortal Man o' War, via his dam, Iron Reward, through the Triple Crown winner, War Admiral. In the list of the top 100 U.S...
, the 1956 U.S. Horse of the Year
Horse of the Year
Horse of the Year is an honor given by various organizations worldwide in harness racing and thoroughbred horse racing.Some of the awards include:* Australian Champion Racehorse of the Year* Breeders' Cup World Championships Poll* European Horse of the Year...
and a Racing Hall of Fame
National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame was founded in 1950 in Saratoga Springs, New York, to honor the achievements of American thoroughbred race horses, jockeys, and trainers...
inductee.
Racing at age two for future U.S. Hall of Fame trainer James P. Conway
James P. Conway
James P. Conway was an American Hall of Fame trainer in Thoroughbred horse racing who trained forty-three stakes winners including five Champions and a winner of two American Classic Races....
, Chateaugay showed limited promise, winning two of five starts but without a victory in a stakes race. At age three, the colt began to develop and after winning the Blue Grass Stakes
Blue Grass Stakes
The Toyota Blue Grass Stakes, currently sponsored by the Toyota Motor Corporation, is an American Grade 1 horse race for 3-year-old Thoroughbreds held annually in mid April at Keeneland Racecourse in Lexington, Kentucky....
at Keeneland Race Course was sent to compete in America's most prestigious race, the Kentucky Derby
Kentucky Derby
The Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses, held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter mile at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry...
.
The 1963 U.S. Triple Crown
The 1963 edition of the Kentucky Derby, the first leg of the Triple Crown series, saw 120,000 patrons gather at Churchill DownsChurchill Downs
Churchill Downs, located in Central Avenue in south Louisville, Kentucky, United States, is a Thoroughbred racetrack most famous for hosting the Kentucky Derby annually. It officially opened in 1875, and held the first Kentucky Derby and the first Kentucky Oaks in the same year. Churchill Downs...
for a race that featured three Thoroughbred stars. TIME
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine reported jockey Eddie Arcaro
Eddie Arcaro
George Edward Arcaro , known professionally as Eddie Arcaro, was an American Thoroughbred horse racing Hall of Fame jockey who won more American classic races than any other jockey in history and is the only rider to have won the U.S. Triple Crown twice...
as saying: "I can't remember a Derby creating so much excitement." http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,830301,00.html
Leading up to the big race, Rex C. Ellsworth's undefeated Candy Spots
Candy Spots
Candy Spots was an American Thoroughbred racehorse that is best known for winning the 1963 Preakness Stakes and for coming in a close second and third, respectively, in the Belmont Stakes and Kentucky Derby to his rival Chateaugay...
had been the most impressive in winning the Florida Derby
Florida Derby
The Florida Derby is an American Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-old horses held annually at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Florida on the Saturday closest to the end of March or the first of April. Added to the racing schedule in 1952, the Grade 1 race is run at 1⅛ miles on the dirt...
and the Santa Anita Derby
Santa Anita Derby
The Santa Anita Derby is an American Grade 1 thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds run each April at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California and carries a purse of $1 million. Inaugurated in 1935, it is considered the most important West Coast stepping-stone to the Kentucky Derby...
. At the same time, a Greentree Stable
Greentree Stable
Greentree Stable, in Red Bank, New Jersey, was a major American thoroughbred horse racing stable and breeding farm established in 1914 by Payne Whitney of the Whitney family of New York City. Payne Whitney operated a horse farm and stable at Saratoga Springs, New York with his brother Harry Payne...
colt named No Robbery
No Robbery
No Robbery was an American Thoroughbred racehorse owned by the renowned Whitney family's Greentree Stable who won the Wood Memorial Stakes and went into the 1963 Kentucky Derby undefeated but finished fifth....
had won the Wood Memorial Stakes
Wood Memorial Stakes
The Wood Memorial Stakes is an American flat Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds held annually at Aqueduct Racetrack in Jamaica, New York. It is currently a Grade I race run over a distance of 9 furlongs on dirt....
and he too came into the Derby undefeated. Then, there was Harry F. Guggenheim's formidable 1962 U.S. 2-Year-old Champion Colt
Eclipse Award for Outstanding 2-Year-Old Male Horse
The American Champion Two-Year-Old Male Horse is an American Thoroughbred horse racing honor awarded annually in Thoroughbred flat racing. It became part of the Eclipse Awards program in 1971....
and 1963 Flamingo Stakes
Flamingo Stakes
The Flamingo Stakes was an American Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds held annually in March at the Hialeah Park Race Track in Hialeah, Florida. Run over a distance of nine furlongs, the inaugural race took place in 1926 at the Tampa, Florida racetrack...
winner, Never Bend
Never Bend
Never Bend was an American Thoroughbred Champion racehorse and a leading sire in England.-Two-Year-Old Champion:Foaled at Claiborne Farm for owner/breeder Harry F. Guggenheim, Never Bend was the dominant two-year-old racing in the United States in 1962...
. By post time, bettors
Gambling
Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...
had made Candy Spots the 3-2 favorite, No Robbery the second choice at 5-2, and Never Bend the third pick at odds of 3-1. Even though he came into the race undefeated at three (3-3) including a win in April's Blue Grass Stakes, Chateaugay was all but ignored amid the hype surrounding the three star horses and was sent off at 9-1 odds.
When the gate opened, Never Bend quickly took the lead and by the ¼ mile mark No Robbery had moved into second place along the inside rail with Candy Spots sitting a well-positioned third. After running in sixth place through the first three-quarters of a mile, coming out of the backstretch Chateaugay moved to the far outside and raced into fourth place behind the three leaders. As they turned for home, jockey Braulio Baeza
Braulio Baeza
Braulio Baeza is an American Thoroughbred horse racing Hall of Fame jockey. He began racing in 1955 and in 1960, at the urging of agent Camilo Marin, moved to compete in the United States where at the Keeneland Race Course he won the very first he competed in.Braulio Baeza's success in America was...
spotted an opening between the second-and-third-place horses. He raced through it to pull alongside Never Bend and then moved ahead to win the race by 1¼ lengths.
In the Preakness Stakes
Preakness Stakes
The Preakness Stakes is an American flat Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds held on the third Saturday in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. It is a Grade I race run over a distance of 9.5 furlongs on dirt. Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds ; fillies 121 lb...
at Pimlico Race Course
Pimlico Race Course
Pimlico Race Course is a horse racetrack in Baltimore, Maryland, most famous for hosting the Preakness Stakes. Its name is derived from the 1660s when English settlers named the area where the facility currently stands in honor of Olde Ben Pimlico's Tavern in London...
in Baltimore, Maryland, Chateaugay again faced both Candy Spots and Never Bend. Five days before the race, he got away from his exercise rider and equalled Pimlico's track record, working a mile in 1:37 3/5. Bettors made Candy Spots the favorite. As they had in the Derby, Never Bend charged out to an early lead with Candy Spots comfortably sitting in third. Once again, Chateaugay was far back, running seventh in the eight-horse field. As they turned onto the homestretch Chateaugay made his move and soon caught and passed Never Bend who had fallen behind the now front-running Candy Spots. This time, Chateaugay could not catch the leader and finished second, 3½ lengths back.
As a result of major renovations in progress at New York's
Elmont, New York
Elmont is an unincorporated census-designated place located in the northwest corner of the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, New York, along its border with the borough of Queens in New York City...
Belmont Park
Belmont Park
Belmont Park is a major thoroughbred horse-racing facility located in Elmont in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, New York, on Long Island adjoining New York City. It first opened on May 4, 1905...
, the 1963 Belmont Stakes
Belmont Stakes
The Belmont Stakes is an American Grade I stakes Thoroughbred horse race held every June at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is a 1.5-mile horse race, open to three year old Thoroughbreds. Colts and geldings carry a weight of 126 pounds ; fillies carry 121 pounds...
was run at Aqueduct Racetrack
Aqueduct Racetrack
Aqueduct Racetrack is a thoroughbred horse-racing facility and racino in Ozone Park, Queens, New York. Its racing meets usually are from late October/early November through April.-History:...
. As he had been in the Derby and Preakness, Candy Spots was the betting favorite for this the longest and most demanding of the Triple Crown races. Sent off at 9-2 odds, Chateaugay repeated his running style from the previous two Classics and was well back of the leaders. Once again, while other horses began to tire during the 1½ mile race, in the stretch, Chateaugay stormed past Candy Spots and pulled away to win by a widening 2½ lengths.
Chateaugay went on to capture the 1963 Jerome Handicap but finished third in the Dwyer
Dwyer Stakes
The Dwyer Stakes is an American Grade II stakes race for three-year-old thoroughbred racehorses held annually at Belmont Park racetrack in Elmont, Long Island, New York. Run in early July, it is open to three-year-old horses and is raced over a distance of 1 1/16-miles on dirt...
and Travers Stakes
Travers Stakes
The Travers Stakes is an American Grade I Thoroughbred horse race held at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York.First held in 1864, it was named for William R. Travers, the president of the old Saratoga Racing Association. His horse, Kentucky, won the first running of the Travers...
. He was raced at age four and five with limited success before being retired to stud
Horse breeding
Horse breeding is reproduction in horses, and particularly the human-directed process of selective breeding of animals, particularly purebred horses of a given breed. Planned matings can be used to produce specifically desired characteristics in domesticated horses...
duty at Darby Dan Farm. His progeny met with only modest racing success with perhaps his best being the colt True Knight who won several stakes races including the Jerome
Jerome Handicap
The Jerome Stakes is a Grade II race for thoroughbred horses run each fall at one mile on the dirt at Belmont Park. It is open to three-year-olds and carries a purse of $150,000. The race is a prep race to several races of the Breeders' Cup....
and Suburban Handicap
Suburban Handicap
The Suburban Handicap is an American Grade II Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. Open to horses age three and older, it is run at the classic one-and-one-quarter mile distance on dirt for a $400,000 purse....
s.
In 1971, Chateaugay became the first Kentucky Derby winner to be sold to Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese interests. From 1972 until his death in 1985, he stood at a breeding farm in Japan where he sired the 1981 Champion juvenile colt, Hokuto Flag.