Head Play

Head Play
Sire My Play
Grandsire Fair Play
Dam Red Head
Damsire King Gorin
Sex Stallion
Foaled 1930
Country United States
Colour Chestnut (color)
Breeder R. L. Baker
Owner Mrs. Silas B. Moon
Trainer Thomas P. Hayes
Record 38: 14-5-5
Earnings $109,315
Major wins

Suburban Handicap (1935)
Derby Trial Stakes (1933)
San Juan Capistrano Handicap (1935)
San Antonio Handicap (1935)
Bay Meadows Handicap (1935)
Hawthorne Juvenile Stakes (1932)
Cincinnati Trophy (1932)

American Classic wins:
Preakness Stakes (1933)
Kentucky Derby 2nd (1933)
Last updated on May 30, 2011

Head Play (foaled in Kentucky in 1930) 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

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, he won the Derby Trial Stakes at one mile at Churchill Downs on opening weekend.

That win convinced his connections, trainer Thomas Hayes and owner Mrs. Mason, to enter 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 [1] 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.

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.[2] On the fourth of July weekend, Head Play won the prestigious Suburban Handicap at 1¼ 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

Pedigree of Head Play
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

  1. Daily Racing Form, Sunday, May 14, 1933.
  2. Field, Bryan (1935-05-23). "HEAD PLAY BEATS CAVALCADE". New York Times. Retrieved 2012-04-25.
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