Chief Seattle, Breeders’ Cup Juvenile runner-up and New York’s leading sire in 2007, passed away at the end of October overnight in his paddock at Lake Shore Farm in Indiana at age 14.
Bred in Kentucky by Atwood Richards, Incorporated, Chief Seattle was by Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew and the most successful of four winning foals out of Skatingonthinice ($171,757), a dual stakes winner by Icecapade and half sister to the dam of top Second Crop Sire War Front.
Richards sold Chief Seattle as a weanling to Oxbow Stables for $145,000 at the 1997 Keeneland November Sale. Trained by John Kimmel and ridden exclusively by Edgar Prado, the colt raced under the colors of William J. Betz and Philip D. Needham.
Chief Seattle raced four times, three times at the Grade 1 level following a nine-plus length maiden-breaking debut at Saratoga. Second time out the bay finished fourth in the Futurity at Belmont only 1 1/4 lengths behind the winner, and three weeks later ran second in the Champagne at Belmont. In his final start, Chief Seattle finished second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Gulfstream Park, earning a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 98.
Derailed from the Derby trail the following year by fever, Chief Seattle was retired to stud with $327,000 in earnings. Co-owner William Betz partnered with Darley Stud Management, who acquired Chief Seattle privately after the Breeders’ Cup, to stand Chief Seattle for a fee of $10,000 at Spendthrift Farm near Lexington, where he remained for five years.
The next chapter in Chief Seattle’s career at stud took him to New York. Through an agreement with Darley he moved to Empire Stud in Hudson in 2006, where he stood for an initial fee of $7,500. Resident in New York from 2006 to 2009, Chief Seattle covered 193 mares and in 2007 was the leading state’s leading sire. In 2010 Chief Seattle moved on to Indiana, purchased by WinRich Farm, before moving to Lake Shore Farm for the 2011 breeding season.
Gale Bess, part-owner of Lake Shore Farm said, “We had fed him the night before and everything was fine. He was our main stallion and was as healthy as could be. He covered more than 40 mares this year.” Bess added, “He will be greatly missed by all of us here at Lake Shore and by all his fans.”
Chief Seattle has sired eight stakes winners, including three graded winners and Canada’s 2006 champion 3-year-old male Shillelagh Slew. His Sophia Slew was champion imported older mare in Panama in 2008 and Free Race was champion imported older horse in Mexico in 2010. His top earner is Bold Chieftain, a California-bred Grade 2 winner and winner of 14 stakes, who has earned $1,653,171 to date in seven campaigns. Chief Seattle has another California Grade 2 winner in Seafree. Overall his progeny have earned more than $16 million.
