Head Play
Head Play | |
---|---|
Head Play in the late 1930s | |
Sire | My Play |
Grandsire | Fair Play |
Dam | Red Head |
Damsire | King Gorin |
Sex | Stallion |
Foaled | 1930 |
Country | United States |
Colour | Chestnut (color) |
Breeder | Col. Robert L. Baker |
Owner | 1) Ruth Clark Crump 2) Suzanne Mason |
Trainer | 1) Willie Crump 2) Thomas P. Hayes (1933) 3) J. Thomas Taylor (1934) |
Record | 38: 14-5-5 |
Earnings | $109,315 |
Major wins | |
Hawthorne Juvenile Stakes (1932) Cincinnati Trophy Stakes (1932) Derby Trial Stakes (1933) Suburban Handicap (1935) San Juan Capistrano Handicap (1935) San Antonio Handicap (1935) Bay Meadows Handicap (1935) U.S. Triple Crown wins: Preakness Stakes (1933) Kentucky Derby 2nd (1933) | |
Awards | |
American Champion Three-Year-Old Male Horse (1933) | |
Last updated on June 14, 2018 |
Head Play (April 2, 1930 – December 11, 1954) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 1933 Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the U.S. Triple Crown series of races and as the horse on the losing end of the "Fighting Finish" of the 1933 Kentucky Derby.
Early racing career
Trainer Willie Crump, a former top jockey, bought Head Play for $500 at a yearling sale and gave him to his wife Ruth to race under her name.[1] At age two, Head Play broke his maiden in his second start. He went on to win the one and one sixteenth mile Hawthorne Juvenile Stakes in December at Hawthorne Race Course in Cicero, Illinois, before being freshened over the winter. In his three-year-old season, with jockey Herb Fisher aboard he won the Derby Trial Stakes at one mile at Churchill Downs on opening weekend. After that impressive win, in which he beat a number of the Kentucky Derby eligibles, the Crumps accepted a $30,000 offer for the colt from Suzanne Mason, wife of construction contractor Silas B. Mason whose consortium built the Grand Coulee Dam.[2] With jockey Fisher on Head Play again, he finished second by a nose to Brokers Tip ridden by Don Meade after a battle between the two jockeys so severe they would both be suspended by the racing authorities.[3]
Convinced that Head Play would have won had it not been for the jockeys antics, his new connections entered Head Play in the $25,000 Preakness Stakes run at a mile and three sixteenth at Baltimore's Pimlico Race Course. In the time leading up to the race, he began uneasy in the paddock, bucking and exhibiting fractious behavior [4] and was unable to be placed in the stall for saddling. In the race, he broke from gate four as the post time 2-1 favorite. He was immediately sent by his jockey Charles Kurtsinger to the outside, shifting across several other paths to the middle of the track. He outran all others, including Kentucky Derby winner Brokers Tip, to the first turn, completing the first quarter mile in :23-3/5. He rated by slowing down the pace on the back stretch but was still in front comfortably. He shook off several challenges from Ladysman and then drew off in the last quarter mile to win by four lengths. He won the Preakness in a final time of 2:02, paying $5.60 to win. The Derby winner, Brokers Tip, finished last in the field of ten. Tom Hayes had taken over as the trainer for the new owner after the Derby[5] and the Preakness win with Head Play marked his second win in the event, having won in 1897 with the colt Paul Kauvar. Only a few months after, Hayes died on August 28, 1933, at his home in Lexington, Kentucky.[6]
Later racing career
Head Play was injured and did not win another race in the remainder of his three-year-old or four-year-old seasons. As a five-year-old, he came back into form from his injury and won four stakes races on separate coasts of the country. Early in 1935, he won both the inaugural running of the San Antonio Handicap in the first week of February at one and one eighth mile on the dirt and the San Juan Capistrano Handicap in the second half of April at the same distance at Santa Anita Park outside Los Angeles in California. Then he won the Bay Meadows Handicap at one and one eighth miles in the San Francisco Area in Northern California at Bay Meadows Racetrack. In May, he ran against the 1934 Kentucky Derby winner, Cavalcade, at Belmont and recorded an upset victory over the younger horse.[7] On the fourth of July weekend, Head Play won the prestigious Suburban Handicap at 1+1⁄4 miles on the dirt at Belmont Park in New York over Discovery with Cavalcade losing his rider at the start. He won the Derby Week Special at one and one eighth miles at Detroit in mid-June over Stand Pat and Azucar. He bowed slightly after this and never regained his form, racing only twice the next year unsuccessfully.
Breeding
Sire My Play bay 1919 | Fair Play ch. 1905 | Hastings | Spendthrift |
---|---|---|---|
Cinderella | |||
Fairy Gold | Bend Or | ||
Dame Masham | |||
Mahubah bay 1910 | Rock Sand | Sainfoin | |
Roquebrune | |||
Merry Token | Merry Hampton | ||
Mizpah | |||
Dam Red Head ch. 1923 | King Gorin ch. 1913 | Transvaal | Commando |
Royal Rose | |||
Ethel Simpson | Deceiver | ||
Excellent | |||
Pimenta ch. 1918 | Light Brigade | Picton | |
Bridge of Sighs | |||
Allspice | Oddfellow | ||
Witch Hazel |
References
- ^ New York Times, May 15, 1933
- ^ May 22, 1933 Time magazine article on the Kentucky Derby
- ^ Staff of Blood Horse Publications, "Horse Racing's Top 100 Moments" (2006) Eclipse Press ISBN 978-1581501391
- ^ Daily Racing Form, Sunday, May 14, 1933.
- ^ The Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes: A Comprehensive History By Richard Sowers page 118
- ^ DRF – May 5, 1934
- ^ Field, Bryan (1935-05-23). "HEAD PLAY BEATS CAVALCADE". New York Times. Retrieved 2012-04-25.
- Head Play's pedigree and racing stats
- v
- t
- e
- 1873 Survivor
- 1874 Culpepper
- 1875 Tom Ochiltree
- 1876 Shirley
- 1877 Cloverbrook
- 1878 Duke of Magenta
- 1879 Harold
- 1880 Grenada
- 1881 Saunterer
- 1882 Vanguard
- 1883 Jacobus
- 1884 Knight of Ellerslie
- 1885 Tecumseh
- 1886 The Bard
- 1887 Dunboyne
- 1888 Refund
- 1889 Buddhist
- 1890 Montague
- 1894 Assignee
- 1895 Belmar
- 1896 Margrave
- 1897 Paul Kauvar
- 1898 Sly Fox
- 1899 Half Time
- 1900 Hindus
- 1901 The Parader
- 1902 Old England
- 1903 Flocarline ♥
- 1904 Bryn Mawr
- 1905 Cairngorm
- 1906 Whimsical ♥
- 1907 Don Enrique
- 1908 Royal Tourist
- 1909 Effendi
- 1910 Layminster
- 1911 Watervale
- 1912 Colonel Holloway
- 1913 Buskin
- 1914 Holiday
- 1915 Rhine Maiden ♥
- 1916 Damrosch
- 1917 Kalitan
- 1918 War Cloud
- 1918 Jack Hare Jr.
- 1919 Sir Barton ₩
- 1920 Man o' War
- 1921 Broomspun
- 1922 Pillory
- 1923 Vigil
- 1924 Nellie Morse ♥
- 1925 Coventry
- 1926 Display
- 1927 Bostonian
- 1928 Victorian
- 1929 Dr. Freeland
- 1930 Gallant Fox ₩
- 1931 Mate
- 1932 Burgoo King
- 1933 Head Play
- 1934 High Quest
- 1935 Omaha ₩
- 1936 Bold Venture
- 1937 War Admiral ₩
- 1938 Dauber
- 1939 Challedon
- 1940 Bimelech
- 1941 Whirlaway ₩
- 1942 Alsab
- 1943 Count Fleet ₩
- 1944 Pensive
- 1945 Polynesian
- 1946 Assault ₩
- 1947 Faultless
- 1948 Citation ₩
- 1949 Capot
- 1950 Hill Prince
- 1951 Bold
- 1952 Blue Man
- 1953 Native Dancer
- 1954 Hasty Road
- 1955 Nashua
- 1956 Fabius
- 1957 Bold Ruler
- 1958 Tim Tam
- 1959 Royal Orbit
- 1960 Bally Ache
- 1961 Carry Back
- 1962 Greek Money
- 1963 Candy Spots
- 1964 Northern Dancer
- 1965 Tom Rolfe
- 1966 Kauai King
- 1967 Damascus
- 1968 Forward Pass
- 1969 Majestic Prince
- 1970 Personality
- 1971 Canonero II
- 1972 Bee Bee Bee
- 1973 Secretariat ₩
- 1974 Little Current
- 1975 Master Derby
- 1976 Elocutionist
- 1977 Seattle Slew ₩
- 1978 Affirmed ₩
- 1979 Spectacular Bid
- 1980 Codex
- 1981 Pleasant Colony
- 1982 Aloma's Ruler
- 1983 Deputed Testamony
- 1984 Gate Dancer
- 1985 Tank's Prospect
- 1986 Snow Chief
- 1987 Alysheba
- 1988 Risen Star
- 1989 Sunday Silence
- 1990 Summer Squall
- 1991 Hansel
- 1992 Pine Bluff
- 1993 Prairie Bayou
- 1994 Tabasco Cat
- 1995 Timber Country
- 1996 Louis Quatorze
- 1997 Silver Charm
- 1998 Real Quiet
- 1999 Charismatic
- 2000 Red Bullet
- 2001 Point Given
- 2002 War Emblem
- 2003 Funny Cide
- 2004 Smarty Jones
- 2005 Afleet Alex
- 2006 Bernardini
- 2007 Curlin
- 2008 Big Brown
- 2009 Rachel Alexandra ♥
- 2010 Lookin At Lucky
- 2011 Shackleford
- 2012 I'll Have Another
- 2013 Oxbow
- 2014 California Chrome
- 2015 American Pharoah ₩
- 2016 Exaggerator
- 2017 Cloud Computing
- 2018 Justify ₩
- 2019 War of Will
- 2020 Swiss Skydiver ♥
- 2021 Rombauer
- 2022 Early Voting
- 2023 National Treasure
- 2024 Seize the Grey
Legend – ₩ = Triple Crown Winners, ♥ = Filly