Chef-de-Race: Chief's Crown
dkb/br.h., 1982 (Danzig-Six Crowns, by Secretariat)
(April 11, 2005)

Chief's Crown, from the fist crop of Classic chef-de-race Danzig, was a champion race horse and an internationally successful sire. Out of a stakes-winning daughter of Secretariat whose own dam is the immortal filly Triple Crown winner Chris Evert, Chief's Crown was himself a champion at two, the first Breeders Cup Juvenile (G1) winner and a near champion at three. In a two-year racing career he had 12 wins in 21 starts, earned in excess of $2 million and won eight Grade 1 stakes, including the Marlboro Invitational Handicap as a three-year-old against older horses. He also placed in all three Triple Crown events.

As a sire, Chief's Crown got 53 stakes winners including champions Chief Bearhart (US and Canada), Erhaab (England), Grand Lodge (England), Stormy Crown (Puerto Rico) and Mukaafah (Austria). His son, Grand Lodge, in turn has sired Sinndar, winner of the English and Irish Derbies as well as the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe as a three-year-old.  Another son, Concerto, is the sire of, at this writing, the likely favorite for the 2005 Kentucky Derby, Bellamy Road.

The descendants of Chief's Crown are characterized by versatility for surface, performing equally well on dirt and on grass, and generally over a distance of ground. As a sire or broodmare sire, in addition to the horses mentioned, he is the close up ancestor of graded stakes winners Best of Luck, Ampulla, Chief Honcho, Concerto, Coronation Cup, Crowned, Crowned Dancer, Dazzle Me, Eddington, Excellent Meeting, Mythical Gem, Provins, Regal Thunder, Scorpion, Shawnee Country, Sunshine Street, Take the Cake, and Three Fanfares.

Based on over 70 North American open stakes races in which Chief's Crown is the sire, broodmare sire or paternal grandsire, their average winning distance (AWD) is a long 9.03 furlongs. As a direct sire his AWD is surpassed by only four other sires of North American stakes winners since 1983, Sadler's Wells, Persian Bold, Alleged and His Majesty. As a broodmare sire his position as a stamina source is not quite as compelling, although his broodmare sire AWD is about the same as Classic/Solid chef-de-race Nijinsky II and Classic/Professional chef-de-race Ribot. Thirty-five percent of his descendants stakes wins have been on grass, significantly higher than the average of 28%. Eighty-seven percent have come at a mile or more, far greater than the average of 68%. An exceptional 25% of those stakes wins have been at 10 furlongs or longer.

Despite the obvious affinity of his descendants for distance and for the turf, this is not reflected in their combined Dosage figures of average DI (ADI) 2.96 and average CD (ACD) 0.66 with an average DP of 6.99-7.08-11.96-0.48-1.15. The predicted values for an AWD of 9.03 furlongs are ADI 2.11 and ACD 0.51. To bring the Chief's Crown descendant population back in line with the total Thoroughbred population sharing similar characteristics, we can empirically assign chef-de-race aptitudes to Chief's Crown and recalculate the figures. Doing so affords two options. The first option is an assignment as a Classic chef-de-race. This yields revised figures of DP 6.99-7.08-24.46-0.48-1.15, ADI 1.94 and ACD 0.45. These figures would appear to be an excellent fit that more accurately captures Chief's Crown influence as a source of prepotent stamina. However, with a second option we can retain the adjusted ADI and ACD while increasing the accuracy of the DP. In this case the assignment is as an Intermediate/Solid split. The lone precedent for an Intermediate/Solid designation rather than Classic is Princequillo. When we apply the alternate configuration, the ADI and ACD remain the same while the new DP becomes 6.99-13.34-11.96-6.73-1.15. The correlation of the figures with distance has not changed; at the same time the increased representation in the Solid/Professional wing of the DP correlates better with Chief's Crown's influence for turf. As we have noted on many occasions, the key to Dosage interpretation lies in the DP itself, not just the DI and CD numbers.

A further consequence of an Intermediate/Solid classification is the dramatic change in the Dosage contribution Chief's Crown makes as a sire.  The DP contribution changes from 3-7-8-0-0 (equivalent to DI 3.50 and CD 0.72) to 3-15-8-8-0 (equivalent to DI 1.83 and CD 0.38).  His DP contribution as a broodmare sire or paternal grandsire changes from 1-3-4-0-0 (equivalent to DI 3.00 and CD 0.63) to 1-7-4-4-0 (equivalent to DI 1.67 and CD 0.31).

Some instructive individual Dosage changes include Chief Bearhart (BC Turf, 12f) from DI 3.00, CD 0.67 to DI 1.90, CD 0.43; Chief Honcho (Brooklyn Handicap, 11f) from DI 5.00, CD 0.92 to DI 2.33, CD 0.55; Bellamy Road (Wood Memorial, 9f) from DI 3.50, CD 0.83 to DI 2.25, CD 0.58; Grand Lodge (Dubai Champion Stakes, second by a short head, 10f) from DI 5.80, CD 1.12 to DI 2.85, CD 0.76); Erhaab (Epsom Derby, 12f) from DI 3.86, CD 0.74 to DI 2.33, CD 0.54; and Concerto (Congressional Handicap, 10f) from DI 3.92, CD 0.91 to DI 2.31, CD 0.60. 

In summary, we are very comfortable with Chief's Crown as the 205^th chef-de-race, assigned as a split Intermediate/Solid.