Snow Chief (USA)
March 17, 1983 – May 15, 2010
Reflected Glory (USA) x Miss Snowflake (USA), by Snow Sporting (ARG)
Family 9-e
March 17, 1983 – May 15, 2010
Reflected Glory (USA) x Miss Snowflake (USA), by Snow Sporting (ARG)
Family 9-e
The most consistent runner among the Classic colts of his crop, Snow Chief also had the most natural speed and used it to good effect. His consistency and brilliance were enough that he was voted an Eclipse Award as champion 3-year-old male in spite of being absent from the races throughout the late summer and fall of 1986. Like most off-bred horses that become top racers, he was a much better runner than sire.
Race record
24 starts, 13 wins, 3 seconds, 5 thirds, US$3,383,210
1985:
1986:
1987:
Honors
Assessments
Rated at 123 pounds on the Experimental Free Handicap for American juveniles of 1985, 3 pounds below co-highweights Tasso (the official divisional champion) and Ogygian.
Highweighted at 126 pounds on the Daily Racing Form's Free Handicap for American 3-year-old males of 1986, 1 pound above Ferdinand.
Rated at 124 pounds on the Daily Racing Form's Free Handicap for American older males of 1987, 3 pounds below champion Ferdinand but third overall.
As an individual
A well-balanced dark bay or brown horse standing 15.3 hands, Snow Chief had a powerful drive to win. He typically raced close to the pace, using a collected, efficient stride. His racing career ended due to a tendon injury suffered in the 1987 Californian Stakes (USA-G1).
As a stallion
According to records maintained by The Jockey Club, Snow Chief sired 121 winners (42.2%) and nine stakes winners (3.1%) from 287 named foals. His best runner was Grade 2 winner College Town.
Connections
Foaled in California, Snow Chief was bred by Carl Grinstead's Blue Diamond Ranch. Ben Rochelle became a partner in the colt in 1984 after buying a half interest in the ranch and its stock. Snow Chief was trained by Mel Stute. He was ridden to his Preakness win by Alex Solis. He entered stud in California in 1988 at Mira Loma Thoroughbred Farm. He later stood at several other California Farms and was at Eagle Oak Farm (owned by Rochelle's wife Diane) when he died of an apparent heart attack in 2010.
Pedigree notes
Sired by 1967 Flamingo Stakes winner Reflected Glory (by 1957 Futurity Stakes winner Jester, by Tom Fool), Snow Chief is outcrossed through five generations. He is a half brother to 1990 Royal Lodge Stakes (ENG-G2) winner Mujaazif (by Alydar).
Miss Snowflake, the dam of Snow Chief, was sired by 1970 Charles H. Strub Stakes and Gulfstream Park Handicap winner Snow Sporting. A winner of one of her five starts, she is a full sister to Snowymist, dam of Mexican listed stakes winner You Beautiful Doll (by Cutlass Reality). Their dam Bold Jewel (by the winning Nigromante horse Any Time Now) is a half sister to the minor stakes winners Prevention (by Game Ruler) and Timothy Day (by Captain Dare) and is out of the winner Bold Contessa (by Bold Combatant), whose half sister Countess Fourway (by Pappa Fourway) produced the minor stakes winner Countess East (by Out of the East).
Books and media
Snow Chief is profiled in Chapter 11 of Avalyn Hunter's American Classic Pedigrees 1914-2002 (2003, Eclipse Press).
Fun facts
Last updated: March 10, 2021
Race record
24 starts, 13 wins, 3 seconds, 5 thirds, US$3,383,210
1985:
- Won Hollywood Futurity (USA-G1, 8FD, Hollywood)
- Won Norfolk Stakes (USA-G1, 8.5FD, Santa Anita)
- Won S. J. Ridder Stakes (USA-LR, 8FD, Santa Anita)
- Won Rancho Santa Fe Stakes (USA-LR, 6FD, Del Mar)
- 2nd Hoist the Flag Stakes (USA-L, 8FD, Hollywood)
- 2nd Sunny Slope Stakes (USA-L, 7FD, Santa Anita)
- 3rd Del Mar Futurity (USA-G1, 8FD, Del Mar)
1986:
- Won Jersey Derby (USA-G2, 10FD, Garden State)
- Won Florida Derby (USA-G1, 9FD, Gulfstream Park)
- Won Santa Anita Derby (USA-G1, 9FD, Santa Anita)
- Won Preakness Stakes (USA-G1, 9.5FD, Pimlico)
- Won El Camino Real Derby (USA-G3, 8.5FD, Bay Meadows)
- Won California Breeders' Champion Stakes (USA-LR, 7FD, Santa Anita)
- 2nd Malibu Stakes (USA-G1, 7FD, Santa Anita)
- 3rd Silver Screen Handicap (USA-G2, 9FD, Hollywood)
1987:
- Won Charles H. Strub Stakes (USA-G1, 10FD, Santa Anita)
- Won Oaklawn Handicap (USA-G2, 9FD, Oaklawn Park; new track record 1:46-3/5)
- 3rd Californian Stakes (USA-G1, 9FD, Hollywood)
- 3rd Gulfstream Park Handicap (USA-G1, 10FD, Gulfstream Park)
- 3rd San Fernando Stakes (USA-G1, 9FD, Santa Anita)
Honors
- Arcadia Historical Society Racing Walk of Champions (inducted in 2004)
- Eclipse Award, American champion 3-year-old male (1986)
- California-bred Horse of the Year (1985, 1986, 1987)
- California-bred champion 2-year-old male (1985)
- California-bred champion 3-year-old male (1986)
- California-bred champion older male (1987)
Assessments
Rated at 123 pounds on the Experimental Free Handicap for American juveniles of 1985, 3 pounds below co-highweights Tasso (the official divisional champion) and Ogygian.
Highweighted at 126 pounds on the Daily Racing Form's Free Handicap for American 3-year-old males of 1986, 1 pound above Ferdinand.
Rated at 124 pounds on the Daily Racing Form's Free Handicap for American older males of 1987, 3 pounds below champion Ferdinand but third overall.
As an individual
A well-balanced dark bay or brown horse standing 15.3 hands, Snow Chief had a powerful drive to win. He typically raced close to the pace, using a collected, efficient stride. His racing career ended due to a tendon injury suffered in the 1987 Californian Stakes (USA-G1).
As a stallion
According to records maintained by The Jockey Club, Snow Chief sired 121 winners (42.2%) and nine stakes winners (3.1%) from 287 named foals. His best runner was Grade 2 winner College Town.
Connections
Foaled in California, Snow Chief was bred by Carl Grinstead's Blue Diamond Ranch. Ben Rochelle became a partner in the colt in 1984 after buying a half interest in the ranch and its stock. Snow Chief was trained by Mel Stute. He was ridden to his Preakness win by Alex Solis. He entered stud in California in 1988 at Mira Loma Thoroughbred Farm. He later stood at several other California Farms and was at Eagle Oak Farm (owned by Rochelle's wife Diane) when he died of an apparent heart attack in 2010.
Pedigree notes
Sired by 1967 Flamingo Stakes winner Reflected Glory (by 1957 Futurity Stakes winner Jester, by Tom Fool), Snow Chief is outcrossed through five generations. He is a half brother to 1990 Royal Lodge Stakes (ENG-G2) winner Mujaazif (by Alydar).
Miss Snowflake, the dam of Snow Chief, was sired by 1970 Charles H. Strub Stakes and Gulfstream Park Handicap winner Snow Sporting. A winner of one of her five starts, she is a full sister to Snowymist, dam of Mexican listed stakes winner You Beautiful Doll (by Cutlass Reality). Their dam Bold Jewel (by the winning Nigromante horse Any Time Now) is a half sister to the minor stakes winners Prevention (by Game Ruler) and Timothy Day (by Captain Dare) and is out of the winner Bold Contessa (by Bold Combatant), whose half sister Countess Fourway (by Pappa Fourway) produced the minor stakes winner Countess East (by Out of the East).
Books and media
Snow Chief is profiled in Chapter 11 of Avalyn Hunter's American Classic Pedigrees 1914-2002 (2003, Eclipse Press).
Fun facts
- Snow Chief got his name because Carl Grinstead was routinely called “Chief” by his employees; the “Snow” part of the name was derived from his dam Miss Snowflake. The colt was so popular in California that Grinstead's wife Pearl often identified herself as “Mrs. Snowchief.”
- Alan Fornier wrote a song called “The Ballad of Snow Chief,” setting it to a tune written by his friend Robert White. Prior to the Kentucky Derby (USA-G1), Snow Chief's co-owner Ben Rochelle (a former vaudeville performer) joshed that he would do a soft-shoe routine to “The Ballad of Snow Chief” in the Derby winner's circle if Snow Chief won. Unfortunately, he never got the chance as the horse turned in the worst race of his career.
- Snow Chief was being readied to be shipped back to California following his 11th-place run in the Kentucky Derby when Charlie Whittingham (who trained Derby winner Ferdinand) stopped by to talk to Snow Chief's trainer, Mel Stute. After learning of Stute's intentions, Whittingham told him he should throw the race out and go on to the Preakness. Whittingham's advice proved to be a costly bit of goodwill as Snow Chief beat Ferdinand by four lengths to take the middle jewel of the American Triple Crown.
- Ben Rochelle ended up co-owning Snow Chief because of his interest in Carl Grinstead's good filly Sari's Dreamer. When Rochelle approached Grinstead with an offer to buy half of Sari's Dreamer, Grinstead told him that he could either buy half of Grinstead's entire racing and breeding operation or buy nothing. Rochelle took him up on it, and Snow Chief (then a yearling) was among the horses included in the deal.
- Snow Chief and Ferdinand met nine times during their careers, with Snow Chief outfinishing his rival in six of their meetings.
- Snow Chief was honored by a stakes race in his name at now-defunct Hollywood Park.
- In May 2019, the Grinstead family donated Snow Chief's racing trophies and other memorabilia to the California Thoroughbred Foundation.
- Snow Chief is one of nine horses to have won four "Derby" races as 3-year-olds. The others are Ornament (in 1897), Claude (in 1903), Black Gold (in 1924), Candy Spots (in 1963), Smarten (in 1979), Lost Code (in 1987), Olympio (in 1991), and California Chrome (in 2014). Only Black Gold and California Chrome included the Kentucky Derby in their quartet, and Snow Chief is the only other winner of an American Triple Crown race to have collected four Derby trophies.
Last updated: March 10, 2021