Challedon

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Challedon
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Sire:	Challenger II
Grandsire:	Swynford
Dam:	Laura Gal
Damsire:	Sir Gallahad III
Sex:	Stallion
Foaled:	1936
Country:	USA
Colour:	Bay
Breeder:	William Leavitt Brann
Owner:	Branncastle Farm
Trainer:	Louis J. Schaefer
Record:	44: 20-7-6
Earnings:	$334,660
Major Racing Wins & Honours & Awards
Major Racing Wins
New England Futurity (1938) Pimlico Futurity (1938) Maryland Futurity (1938) Preakness Stakes (1939) Arlington Classic (1939) Hawthorne Gold Cup Handicap (1939) Pimlico Special (1939 & 1940) Hollywood Gold Cup (1940) Whitney Stakes (1940) Philadelphia Handicap (1942)
Racing Awards
U.S. Champion 3-Yr-Old Colt (1956) United States Horse of the Year (1939 & 1940) U.S. Champion Male Handicap Horse (1940)
Honours
United States Racing Hall of Fame (1977) #38 - Top 100 U.S. Racehorses of the 20th Century Challedon Stakes at Laurel Park
Infobox last updated on: October 28, 2006.

Challedon (1936-1958) was an American Hall of Fame Champion Thoroughbred racehorse.

Racing at age two, Challedon won four of his six but was outshone by another colt named El Checo who was voted that year's U.S. Champion 2-Yr-Old Colt. At age three, under jockey George Seabo, Challedon finished 2ND in the 1939 Kentucky Derby, eight lengths behind future Hall of Fame colt, Johnstown. Then, in the Preakness Stakes Challedon won by a length and a half with the heavily favored Johnstown finishing off the board. For trainer Louis J. Schaefer, Challedon's win meant he became the first person to have both ridden and trained a Preakness Stakes winner. His feat would only be matched 30 years later by Johnny Longden. Challedon wasn't eligible to compete in the final leg of the U.S. Triple Crown and as such Johnstown had an easy time in winning the Belmont Stakes. However, Challedon's wins in eight other important races that year including a world record performance in the Tranter Purse raced at Keeneland, earned him the U.S. Champion 3-Yr-Old Colt honors and the most prestigious title of all: Horse of the Year.

In 1940, the four-year-old Challedon continued his winning ways, claiming victory under jockey George Woolf in the Hollywood Gold Cup, the Whitney Stakes, a second consecutive Pimlico Special, and the Havre de Grace Handicap. Challedon was voted 1940 U.S. Champion Male Handicap Horse and for the second straight year earned U.S. Horse of the Year honors. As a five-year-old, Challedon suffered a tendon injury and was bothered by cracks on the inside of a forefoot that saw him win no purse money and his season ended after just three races. The following year, Challedon returned to the winner's circle twice including in the Philadelphia Handicap but had lost his drive and was retired to stand at stud at Gallaher Farm in Lexington, Kentucky.

While not a spectacular success as a sire, Challedon did produce thirteen stakes winners before passing away at the age of twenty-two, after breaking a leg in his paddock. In 1977, he was inducted into the United States' National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.

[edit] References

• Challedon's pedigree and racing stats
• Challedon at the United States National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame