Fair Play (USA)
April 1, 1905 – December 19, 1929
Hastings (USA) x Fairy Gold (GB), by Bend Or (GB)
Family 9-e
April 1, 1905 – December 19, 1929
Hastings (USA) x Fairy Gold (GB), by Bend Or (GB)
Family 9-e
One of the best racehorses from an outstanding crop, Fair Play was sound, game and durable with plenty of stamina. Nonetheless, his accomplishments as a sire far outshine his performance on the track. Through his great son Man o' War, his grandson Discovery and a host of daughters, his blood is all but universal in the modern Thoroughbred.
Race record
31 starts, 10 wins, 11 seconds, 3 thirds, US$89,950
1907:
1908:
Honors
National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame (inducted in 1956)
Assessments
Eminent American handicapper Walter Vosburgh rated Fair Play as the third best of his crop after unbeaten Colin and Colin's stablemate Celt. While Fair Play was undeniably not the equal of Colin, his status relative to Celt is more uncertain. On the surface, Celt appeared to be about 10 pounds better than Fair Play as he defeated the son of Hastings by a length and a half in the Brooklyn Handicap while conceding him 7 pounds. There were extenuating circumstances for Fair Play, however, as he was coming into the race off only two days' rest from his grueling duel with Colin over a deep, muddy track in the Belmont Stakes and was making his third start in nine days. (He had opened his season with another hard-driving loss to Colin in the Withers Stakes.) While Celt came into the Brooklyn with only a four-day turnaround from his season opener, he had won that outing with such ease that jockey Joe Notter had only shaken the whip at him to keep him from loafing in the stretch. One might reasonably conclude that Celt came into the Brooklyn as a much fresher horse than Fair Play.
As an individual
A rangy golden chestnut with a high head carriage, Fair Play stood 15.3 hands. He was an exceptionally beautiful and correct horse but also had a measure of the notorious temperament of his sire Hastings and went totally sour as a four-year-old in England, running unplaced in all six starts there. Many horsemen opined that Fair Play’s poor European showing was due to the emergence of the notorious “Hastings temperament,” but trainer Andrew Joyner had a different opinion. According to racing writer C. W. Anderson, Joyner described Fair Play as being highly strung but no more difficult than most other Thoroughbreds until he went to England and encountered the practice of “wisping” or “banging.” This is a grooming technique in which straw is twisted into a thin strand or “wisp” and the groom then repeatedly knocks the wisp against the horse—often putting quite a bit of weight on it—to knock dust from the horse’s coat. Some animals appear to enjoy this procedure, apparently finding it the equivalent of a good massage for a human, but Fair Play was a very thin-skinned horse and, according to Joyner, found wisping virtually intolerable—so much so that his temperament began deteriorating. It is also possibly that he simply encountered bad handling, a problem then as now. Regardless, Fair Play was a difficult horse to handle both on the track and in the stud, and at Nursery Stud, stud groom Alfred Kane was the only human to gain the respect of the fiery horse.
As a stallion
According to The Blood-Horse Silver Anniversary Edition, Fair Play sired 133 winners (51.2%) and 47 stakes winners (18.1%) from 260 named foals. His statistics would probably have been even better had his owner, August Belmont II, not been so inclined to race his fillies very lightly or not at all. Fair Play was noted for passing on soundness, stamina, good bone and weight carrying ability, but he also passed on his temperament, which could be a mixed blessing. At their best, the Fair Plays were utterly courageous, but they had a reputation for becoming cunning and inclined to sulk as they aged and could become savage with bad handling; many were high-strung.
Although Fair Play sired good horses from a variety of mares, he gained his greatest fame through runners sired on daughters or granddaughters of Rock Sand, Man o’ War not least among them. In fact, pedigree expert Rommy Faversham found that Fair Play sired 24 stakes winners from 81 foals whose dams carried Rock Sand blood—29.6 percent!—while getting 23 stakes winners from 179 foals (12.8%) whose dams were free of Rock Sand. Considering that only 30 of the Fair Play foals carrying Rock Sand blood were males and that 19 of them won stakes races (63.3%), it is easy to speculate that this cross might have shown even greater success had Belmont been more willing to race his fillies, as most of the 51 fillies bred on the Fair Play/Rock Sand cross never saw a racetrack.
Sire rankings
Per The Blood-Horse:
Notable progeny
Chance Play (USA), Chance Shot (USA), Chatterton (USA), Display (USA), Etoile Filante (USA), Fairmount (USA), How Fair (USA), Ladkin (USA), Lillian Shaw (USA), Mad Hatter (USA), Mad Play (USA), Man o' War (USA), My Play (USA), Stromboli (USA)
Connections
Fair Play was bred and owned by August Belmont II and was trained by Andrew J. Joyner. After Belmont died in 1924, Joseph E. Widener purchased Fair Play for US$100,000 at the dispersal sale--a then unheard-of price for a stallion of his age--and the horse died five years later in his paddock at Widener's Elmendorf Farm. He is buried on what is now Normandy Farm beneath the statue which Widener erected to his memory. His most famous mate, Man o' War's dam Mahubah, is buried alongside him.
Pedigree notes
Fair Play is inbred 5x5 to the great matron Pocahontas. He is a half brother to Friar Rock (by Rock Sand), generally considered the American champion 3-year-old male of 1916. His dam Fairy Gold (by Bend Or) also produced the good English stayer Golden Measure (by Florizel II), the minor American stakes winners Flittergold (by Hastings) and Fair Gain (by Vulcain), and Golden View (by Hastings), whose son Rock View (by Rock Sand) is generally considered the American champion 3-year-old male of 1913. Another daughter of Fairy Gold, St. Lucre (by St. Serf), produced the high-class French race mare and producer Zariba (by Sardanapale) and is the third dam of two-time American champion filly Bateau. Fairy Gold herself was a juvenile stakes winner in England and was produced from Dame Masham (by Galliard), whose dam Pauline is a full sister to 1888 Ascot Gold Cup winner Timothy and the good stakes winner Peter.
Books and media
Fun facts
Photo credit
Charlie Cook photo from the estate of Walter Vosburgh. From the private collection of Dale Wyatt; used by permission.
Last updated: March 2, 2021
Race record
31 starts, 10 wins, 11 seconds, 3 thirds, US$89,950
1907:
- Won Montauk Stakes (USA, 6FD, Brighton Beach)
- Won Flash Stakes (USA, 5.5FD, Saratoga)
- 2nd Hopeful Stakes (USA, 6FD, Saratoga)
- 2nd Produce Stakes (Second Half) (USA, 6FD, Brighton Beach)
- 2nd Matron Stakes (USA, 6FD, Belmont)
- 3rd United States Hotel Stakes (USA, 6FD, Saratoga)
- 3rd Nursery Handicap (USA, 6FD, Belmont)
1908:
- Won Brooklyn Derby (USA, 12FD, Gravesend)
- Won Coney Island Jockey Club Stakes (USA, 12FD, Sheepshead Bay; equaled track record)
- Won Lawrence Realization (USA, 13FD, Sheepshead Bay)
- Won Jerome Handicap (USA, 10.5FD, Belmont; new track record 2:10-2/5)
- Won First Special (USA, 10FD, Gravesend; new track record 2:03-2/5)
- Won Municipal Handicap (USA, 10FD, Belmont)
- 2nd Belmont Stakes (USA, 11FD, Belmont)
- 2nd Brooklyn Handicap (USA, 10FD, Gravesend)
- 2nd Withers Stakes (USA, 8FD, Belmont)
Honors
National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame (inducted in 1956)
Assessments
Eminent American handicapper Walter Vosburgh rated Fair Play as the third best of his crop after unbeaten Colin and Colin's stablemate Celt. While Fair Play was undeniably not the equal of Colin, his status relative to Celt is more uncertain. On the surface, Celt appeared to be about 10 pounds better than Fair Play as he defeated the son of Hastings by a length and a half in the Brooklyn Handicap while conceding him 7 pounds. There were extenuating circumstances for Fair Play, however, as he was coming into the race off only two days' rest from his grueling duel with Colin over a deep, muddy track in the Belmont Stakes and was making his third start in nine days. (He had opened his season with another hard-driving loss to Colin in the Withers Stakes.) While Celt came into the Brooklyn with only a four-day turnaround from his season opener, he had won that outing with such ease that jockey Joe Notter had only shaken the whip at him to keep him from loafing in the stretch. One might reasonably conclude that Celt came into the Brooklyn as a much fresher horse than Fair Play.
As an individual
A rangy golden chestnut with a high head carriage, Fair Play stood 15.3 hands. He was an exceptionally beautiful and correct horse but also had a measure of the notorious temperament of his sire Hastings and went totally sour as a four-year-old in England, running unplaced in all six starts there. Many horsemen opined that Fair Play’s poor European showing was due to the emergence of the notorious “Hastings temperament,” but trainer Andrew Joyner had a different opinion. According to racing writer C. W. Anderson, Joyner described Fair Play as being highly strung but no more difficult than most other Thoroughbreds until he went to England and encountered the practice of “wisping” or “banging.” This is a grooming technique in which straw is twisted into a thin strand or “wisp” and the groom then repeatedly knocks the wisp against the horse—often putting quite a bit of weight on it—to knock dust from the horse’s coat. Some animals appear to enjoy this procedure, apparently finding it the equivalent of a good massage for a human, but Fair Play was a very thin-skinned horse and, according to Joyner, found wisping virtually intolerable—so much so that his temperament began deteriorating. It is also possibly that he simply encountered bad handling, a problem then as now. Regardless, Fair Play was a difficult horse to handle both on the track and in the stud, and at Nursery Stud, stud groom Alfred Kane was the only human to gain the respect of the fiery horse.
As a stallion
According to The Blood-Horse Silver Anniversary Edition, Fair Play sired 133 winners (51.2%) and 47 stakes winners (18.1%) from 260 named foals. His statistics would probably have been even better had his owner, August Belmont II, not been so inclined to race his fillies very lightly or not at all. Fair Play was noted for passing on soundness, stamina, good bone and weight carrying ability, but he also passed on his temperament, which could be a mixed blessing. At their best, the Fair Plays were utterly courageous, but they had a reputation for becoming cunning and inclined to sulk as they aged and could become savage with bad handling; many were high-strung.
Although Fair Play sired good horses from a variety of mares, he gained his greatest fame through runners sired on daughters or granddaughters of Rock Sand, Man o’ War not least among them. In fact, pedigree expert Rommy Faversham found that Fair Play sired 24 stakes winners from 81 foals whose dams carried Rock Sand blood—29.6 percent!—while getting 23 stakes winners from 179 foals (12.8%) whose dams were free of Rock Sand. Considering that only 30 of the Fair Play foals carrying Rock Sand blood were males and that 19 of them won stakes races (63.3%), it is easy to speculate that this cross might have shown even greater success had Belmont been more willing to race his fillies, as most of the 51 fillies bred on the Fair Play/Rock Sand cross never saw a racetrack.
Sire rankings
Per The Blood-Horse:
- Led the American general sire list in 1920, 1924, and 1927; 2nd in 1919; 3rd in 1922 and 1923; 4th in 1925 and 1926; 9th in 1921; 10th in 1915.
- Led the American broodmare sire list in 1931, 1934, and 1938; 2nd in 1930 and 1936; 3rd in 1929 and 1933; 4th in 1926; 5th in 1928 and 1935; 7th in 1937; 8th in 1932; 9th in 1941 and 1943; 10th in 1942.
Notable progeny
Chance Play (USA), Chance Shot (USA), Chatterton (USA), Display (USA), Etoile Filante (USA), Fairmount (USA), How Fair (USA), Ladkin (USA), Lillian Shaw (USA), Mad Hatter (USA), Mad Play (USA), Man o' War (USA), My Play (USA), Stromboli (USA)
Connections
Fair Play was bred and owned by August Belmont II and was trained by Andrew J. Joyner. After Belmont died in 1924, Joseph E. Widener purchased Fair Play for US$100,000 at the dispersal sale--a then unheard-of price for a stallion of his age--and the horse died five years later in his paddock at Widener's Elmendorf Farm. He is buried on what is now Normandy Farm beneath the statue which Widener erected to his memory. His most famous mate, Man o' War's dam Mahubah, is buried alongside him.
Pedigree notes
Fair Play is inbred 5x5 to the great matron Pocahontas. He is a half brother to Friar Rock (by Rock Sand), generally considered the American champion 3-year-old male of 1916. His dam Fairy Gold (by Bend Or) also produced the good English stayer Golden Measure (by Florizel II), the minor American stakes winners Flittergold (by Hastings) and Fair Gain (by Vulcain), and Golden View (by Hastings), whose son Rock View (by Rock Sand) is generally considered the American champion 3-year-old male of 1913. Another daughter of Fairy Gold, St. Lucre (by St. Serf), produced the high-class French race mare and producer Zariba (by Sardanapale) and is the third dam of two-time American champion filly Bateau. Fairy Gold herself was a juvenile stakes winner in England and was produced from Dame Masham (by Galliard), whose dam Pauline is a full sister to 1888 Ascot Gold Cup winner Timothy and the good stakes winner Peter.
Books and media
- Fair Play's rivalry with Colin was featured as the second chapter of Horse Racing's Greatest Rivalries (2008, Eclipse Press), a compilation produced by the staff of The Blood-Horse.
- Fair Play is profiled in Part One of Edward L. Bowen's Dynasties (2000, Eclipse Press) and in Chapter 44 of Abram S. Hewitt's Sire Lines (1977, The Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders of America; updated and re-released by Eclipse Press in 2006).
- Fair Play is one of 205 stallions whose accomplishments at stud are profiled in Great Thoroughbred Sires of the World (2006, The Australian Bloodhorse Review), a massive reference work written by Jennifer Churchill, Andrew Reichard and Byron Rogers.
Fun facts
- Fair Play's abortive English venture may have been a blessing in disguise for American breeding, as Belmont had reportedly been considering standing the horse in France. The failure of the horse's English racing career made him unmarketable in Europe and led Belmont to decide to stand the horse at his Nursery Stud in Kentucky instead.
- Fair Play was said to have been so badly soured on grass racing during his experiences in England that in his later years he could not even be persuaded to carry a rider over grass for exercise.
- Fair Play was the first horse to sire six horses that amassed over US$100,000 in earnings each.
Photo credit
Charlie Cook photo from the estate of Walter Vosburgh. From the private collection of Dale Wyatt; used by permission.
Last updated: March 2, 2021