Chop Chop (horse)

Chop Chop
Chop Chop
Sire	Endurance Handicap (1942); Empire City Handicap (1943)
Awards
	Leading sire in Canada; (1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963)
Honours
	Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame (1977)
	Last updated on February 7, 2010

Chop Chop (1940-1963) was an American

U.S. Triple Crown winner Gallant Fox and a full brother to U.S. Triple Crown winner Omaha. Flares raced in England with considerable success for owner William Woodward Sr., counting the Ascot Gold Cup, Champion Stakes and Princess of Wales's Stakes

among his wins.

Purchased as a yearling for $4,100 by

Endurance Handicap at Bowie Race Track in Bowie, Maryland and the 1943 Empire City Handicap at New York's Jamaica Race Course, in which he beat Princequillo in track record time.^[1]^[2]

Stud record

Retired to stud duty, Chop Chop was sent to a breeding farm in Kentucky but in 1945 was leased by Gil Darlington, owner of Trafalgar Farm near Oakville, Ontario. Not given much consideration by most in the racing industry, Chop Chop did not attract any top-quality mares for breeding. As a result, his first five years in Canada showed no significant offspring until after he was sold, when Chain Reaction began winning major races in 1953.

Chop Chop's breeding career changed when E. P. Taylor bought him at a dispersal sale and stood him at his

Oshawa, Ontario. Chop Chop was mated to Taylor's mare Iribelle, and their daughter Canadiana was foaled in 1950. Canadiana's success in racing resulted in Chop Chop being bred to the best of the Taylor mares and as a consequence, he was the leading sire in Canada

from 1959 through 1963.

Among his progeny, Chop Chop was the sire of four

Queen's Plate

winners and two Hall of Fame inductees:

Canadiana (b. 1950) - a filly, she won the 1953 Queen's Plate and was the first Canadian-bred to earn more than $100,000. Voted 1952 Canadian Horse of the Year, a Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductee;
Lyford Cay (b. 1954), won 1957 Queen's Plate;
Leading broodmare sire in Great Britain & Ireland
(1977), sire of three Queen's Plate winners;
Blue Light (b. 1958) - won 1961 Queen's Plate.

Through his daughter Ciboulette, Chop Chop was the damsire of Eclipse and Sovereign Award winner and Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductee, Fanfreluche. Chop Chop's bloodline endures in the 2015 U.S. Triple Crown winner, American Pharoah, who is a seventh-generation descendant.

For his contribution to Canadian racing, in 1977 Chop Chop was inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame.^[3]

Pedigree

Pedigree of Chop Chop
Sire Flares	Gallant Fox	Sir Gallahad	Teddy
		Sir Gallahad	Plucky Liege
		Marguerite	Celt
		Marguerite	Fairy Ray
	Flambino	Wrack	Robert Le Diable
		Wrack	Samphire
		Flambette	Durbar
		Flambette	La Flambee
Dam Sceptical	Buchan	Sunstar	Sundridge
		Sunstar	Doris
		Hamoaze	Torpoint
		Hamoaze	Maid Of The Mist
	Clodagh	Tredennis	Kendal
		Tredennis	St. Marguerite
		Clare	Desmond
		Clare	Sheila

External links

Chop Chop's pedigree and partial racing stats

References

^ "Chop Chop Takes Endurance Handicap". The New York Times. 1942-11-27. p. Section Sports, page 32. Retrieved 2020-09-10.
^ "Chop Chop Captures Empire City Handicap". Evening Independent, page 11. 1943-07-05. Retrieved 2020-04-24.
^ "Chop Chop". Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame. 1977-12-04. Retrieved 2020-09-10.

[1] "Chop Chop Takes Endurance Handicap". The New York Times. 1942-11-27. p. Section Sports, page 32. Retrieved 2020-09-10.

[2] "Chop Chop Captures Empire City Handicap". Evening Independent, page 11. 1943-07-05. Retrieved 2020-04-24.

[3] "Chop Chop". Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame. 1977-12-04. Retrieved 2020-09-10.

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