Background
Coventry was bred by Edward F. Simms, Edward Simms, the owner of Xalapa Farm in Paris, Kentucky, who had purchased a half interest in his sire Negofol from Louis Jean, duc Decazes, Louis Jean Decazes. Consigned to the 1923 yearling auction, Coventry was sold for $25,000 to New York carpet manufacturer Gifford A. Cochran. In 1925, Coventry's training was handled by future National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, U.S. Hall of Fame member William B. Duke, Bill Duke, who knew the colt's breeding, having returned from France that year where he had been training Thoroughbreds since 1888. Duke had trained Coventry's sire, Negofol, for William K. Vanderbilt, Willie Vanderbilt's racing stable and had won important races with him, including the Prix du Jockey Club, French Derby. Back home in the United States, in 1925 Duke also trained Coventry's stable mate, a colt owned by Gifford Cochran named Flying Ebony whose ability to run extremely well on muddy racetracks resulted in his winning of the May 16 rain-soaked Kentucky Derby.Racing career
Coventry made just five lifetime starts, winning once. The one win came in the 1925 Preakness Stakes. Ridden by Clarence Kummer, the colt went off at the longest odds of any Preakness winner in history, paying backers $45.60 for a $2 wager. That record stood for exactly fifty years until Master Derby in 1975 paid $48.80. In his next race, the Withers Stakes at New York's Aqueduct Racetrack, Coventry broke down and was retired to stud.Stud record
He had very limited success as a sire. Hand To Hand and Durango were his best runners, each winning a number of minor races.Breeding
References
{{Preakness Stakes Winners 1922 racehorse births Racehorses bred in Kentucky Racehorses trained in the United States Preakness Stakes winners Thoroughbred family 12-b