Fair Play

Fair Play (April 1, 1905 – December 17, 1929) was an American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse who was successful on the track, but even more so when retired to stud. He is best known as the sire of Man o' War, widely considered one of the greatest American racehorses of all time. On the racetrack, Fair Play was known for his rivalry with the undefeated Colin, to whom he finished second in the Belmont Stakes. Later, Fair Play was the leading sire in North America of 1920, 1924 and 1927, and the leading broodmare sire of 1931, 1934 and 1938. He was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1956. Background Fair Play raced as a homebred for August Belmont Jr., who was chairman of The Jockey Club from 1895 until his death in 1924. Belmont became involved in horse racing through his father, in whose honor the Belmont Stakes was named. Belmont purchased a two-year-old colt named Hastings in 1895, who went on to win the Belmont Stakes the following year. Hastings was the leading sire of 1902 and 1908. He was primarily known as a sire of fast, precocious horses but was known to pass on his savage temperament to his offspring in varying degrees. Fair Play's dam, Fairy Gold, was a stakes winning daughter of Epsom Derby winner Bend Or. In addition to Fair Play, Fairy Gold produced six other stakes winners including Friar Rock, who won the 1916 Belmont Stakes. Her daughters St. Lucre and Golden View also became outstanding producers and the family is still active with descendants such as Dubawi, Dalakhani and Daylami. Fair Play's grandsire was Spendthrift, whose grandsire was the English Triple Crown champion West Australian. This sire line traces to the Godolphin Arabian.