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Col. Chinn Guided By Eye for Horse7 Kentucky Dealer Flouts Bloodlines When Buying Thoroughbreds for Racing LEXINGTON, Ky., May 18. Col. Phil T. Chinn, of mint julep fame, suh, really has an "eye for a horse." The colorful colonel has purchased as yearlings many obscure youngsters who have developed into fine racers. Consider With Regards and Kopla, stake winners of 1942. "Driving down the road one day," recalls Chinn, "I saw a bay colt grazing with some mules. The colt was a smart looking horse looked like a race horse to me so I drove into the farm. The more I looked at him the better I liked him. I had too many yearlings of my own at the time, but I decided Id try to buy him." The colt was With- Regards. "I was told George Terry owned the colt. He priced the colt at 00. I closed the deal with him quickly. I told several friends about buying him, but when I recited his pedigree they said I was crazy." With Regards is by Jack High. His dam, Loose Foot, did not win a race, and her only other foal, Thirty Four, broke his maiden on a minor track in Ohio. The second dam, British Fleet, produced nine foals, none of them stake winners. Grimes Buys Half Interest for 00 Chinn bought the bay colt for re-sale, but could not find a customer for him because of his pedigree. "Finally," said the colorful colonel, "along came my old friend, Pinky Grimes." Grimes long had had high respect for Chinns judgment of a race horse. "I said, Pinky," relates the noted horse trader, "I havent been able to sell this colt. How about us owning this colt together?" Grimes agreed, purchasing a half interest for 00. "The colt trained well," the colonel went on, "with one exception. He turned up rheumatic, and hes still rheumatic. Pinky told me the colt was very fast but rheumatic told me the colt might make a top race horse. The way he ran in the Derby proved to me he is a top race horse." The two horsemen dissolved partnership in the colt last year. Grimes purchased Chinns half interest for,250, and since then With Regards has been the entire property of Grimes. How does Chinn pick a race horse? "I cant describe it," he says. "A colt either appeals to me or he does not. A colt either looks like a race horse or he doeqnt. I have bought hundreds of yearlings, but no two of them were of the same pattern. I have no standard. I pay little attention to pedigree." Kopla Attracts His Attention Colonel Chinn has flouted the old theory that a yearling must be "bred right" many times when picking good race horses. He says that if he buys a yearling for resale he tries to get one with looks and pedigree, but if he is buying one to race, he places little or no stress on breeding. "Thats how I got Kopla!" he exclaims. "I was at Ira Drymons place on another matter one day when I saw a bay colt I liked. The colt looked like a race horse. I asked Ira how he was bred and he told me he was by Okapi and out of a mare by Headstrong. Almost everybody thinks a horse like Headstrong is poison in a pedigree. I didnt pay any attention to the colts pedigree because I liked the way he looked." The colonel bought the Okapi colt for ,000 from his owner, Lowell A. Hancock, an Illinois breeder who had the colt boarding at the Drymon Farm. "I sold a half interest in the colt to Jerry Louchheim," Chinn related, "in Florida last winter. After he had run like a good horse in winning his first start, Jerry bought my half interest. Since then he has won several stakes." Chinn says he does not regret selling either With Regards or Kopla. He contends, the fact he sold two such fine racers for moderate prices, will bring many customers to him. "Selling a good race horse for a bargain price is a fine advertisement," he says. Colonel Chinn modestly -admits he has an "eye for a horse."
