Chatterton (foaled 1919) was an American

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. Thoroughbreds are c ...

racehorse, best known as the

leading sire in North America The list below shows the leading sire of Thoroughbred racehorses in North America for each year since 1830. This is determined by the amount of prize money won by the sire's progeny during the year. It is restricted to stallions which are based in N ...

of 1932, when his son

Faireno Faireno (foaled 1929 in Kentucky) was an American American Champion Three-Year-Old Male Horse, Champion Thoroughbred Horse racing, racehorse best known for winning the Belmont Stakes in 1932. Background Faireno was bred and raced by William Woo ...

won the

Belmont Stakes The Belmont Stakes is an American Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds run at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is run over 1.5 miles (2,400 m). Colts and geldings carry a weight of ; fillies carry . The race, nicknamed Th ...

. During his racing career, he won 15 of 32 starts including the Autumn Handicap and Falls City Handicap.

Background

Chatterton was a

chestnut The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. The unrelat ...

horse bred in Kentucky by

August Belmont II August Belmont Jr. (February 18, 1853 – December 10, 1924) was an American financier. He financed the construction of the original New York City subway (1900–1904) and for many years headed the Interborough Rapid Transit Company, which ran ...

, who had also bred the great

Man o' War Man o' War (March 29, 1917 – November 1, 1947) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who is widely regarded as the greatest racehorse of all time. Several sports publications, including ''The Blood-Horse'', ''Sports Illustrated'', ESPN, and ...

on the same cross of

Fair Play Fair play or Fairplay usually refers to sportsmanship. Fair play or Fairplay may also refer to: Media * ''Fair Play'' (1925 film), an American silent film * ''Fair Play'', a 1972 TV movie starring Paul Ford * ''Fair Play'' (2014 film), a Czech ...

with a daughter of

Rock Sand Rock Sand (1900–1914) was a British Thoroughbred race horse and sire. In a career which lasted from the spring of 1902 until October 1904 he ran twenty times and won sixteen races. He was a leading British two-year-old of his generation, w ...

. Fair Play was considered one of the best racehorses of his generation, though a step below the undefeated

Colin Colin may refer to: * Colin (given name) * Colin (surname) * ''Colin'' (film), a 2008 Cannes film festival zombie movie * Colin (horse) (1905–1932), thoroughbred racehorse * Colin (humpback whale), a humpback whale calf abandoned north of Sydney, ...

. He was even better as a sire, leading the American sire list in 1920, 1924 and 1927. In addition to Man o' War, Fair Play sired several other champions and/or important sires like

Display Display may refer to: Technology * Display device, output device for presenting information, including: ** Cathode ray tube, video display that provides a quality picture, but can be very heavy and deep ** Electronic visual display, output devi ...

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 sprin ...

and

Mad Hatter The Hatter is a fictional character in Lewis Carroll's 1865 book ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' and its 1871 sequel ''Through the Looking-Glass''. He is very often referred to as the Mad Hatter, though this term was never used by Car ...

. Chatterton is a full brother to the notable broodmare Étoile Filante, whose family has produced multiple stakes winners such as Grindstone and Silverbulletday. During his racing career, Chatterton was owned by Frank Kelley and was trained by Charles Van Meter.

Racing career

Chatterton raced won 15 of 32 starts, with earnings of $26,565. The highlights of his career were wins in the Autumn Handicap at Latonia and the Falls City Handicap at Churchill Downs in 1922. In the latter race, run on August 30, Chatterton went off at odds of 5-1 while carrying 104 pounds, compared to 108 and 109 pounds on the favored entry of Rockminster and Rouleau. Chatterton had a three length lead at the head of the stretch and managed to hold off a late charge from Rockminster to win by a neck.

Stud career

Chatterton was originally retired to Kelley's stud farm in California. After Kelley's death, Chatterton was transferred to

Claiborne Farm Claiborne Farm is a thoroughbred horse breeding operation near Paris, Kentucky. It was established in 1910 by Arthur B. Hancock, owner of Ellerslie Stud in Albemarle County, Virginia, and has been operated by members of his family ever since. ...

in Kentucky. In 1932, he stood at Arrowbrook Farm in Illinois but returned to Claiborne in 1933 after

's win in the 1932 Belmont Stakes helped make him the

. He sired a total of 213 named foals, 107 (50%) of which became winners. His 11 (5%) black-type winners included Faireno and champion filly Current. Chatterton died on July 14, 1933, due to kidney disease at the relatively young age of 14.

Pedigree

References

{{reflist 1919 racehorse births 1933 racehorse deaths Racehorses bred in Kentucky Racehorses trained in the United States United States Champion Thoroughbred Sires Belmont family Thoroughbred family 1-c Godolphin Arabian sire line