Chanteur (also known as Chanteur II; 1942–1962) was a French Thoroughbred racehorse and sire who was one of a group of French horses, including Caracalla, Marsyas, Arbar and Souverain, which dominated long-distance racing in Europe in the immediate post-war years. Unraced as a two-year-old, Chanteur won the Prix Hocquart in 1945 and the Prix Jean Prat in 1946. He reached his peak as a five-year-old when he won six races including the Prix des Sablons in France and the Coronation Cup in Britain. He was also placed in many important races including the Grand Prix de Paris, Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, Prix Royal Oak, Prix du Cadran and Ascot Gold Cup. At the end of his racing career he was retired to stand as a breeding stallion in Britain, where he had considerable success as a sire of winners.

Background

Chanteur was a brown horse with a broad white blaze^[2] bred by François Dupré at the Haras d'Ouilly stud farm in Pont-d'Ouilly, Calvados. He was the most notable horse sired by Chateau Bouscaut, a French stallion whose wins included the Prix du Jockey Club in 1930 and the Prix du Cadran a year later. Chanteur's dam La Diva was a half-sister to the Grand Critérium winner Pantalon. La Diva later produced La Divine, the dam of Tanerko, a colt who won two runnings of the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud and sired the Derby winner Relko. Chanteur was trained at Chantilly by the Anglo-French trainer Harry Count. Chanteur was reportedly a horse with a strong character: he was the first horse awake at his stable and would "shout" loudly until he was fed. At exercise he refused to exert himself for an ordinarily-dressed stable lad, only showing interest when he was mounted by a jockey in racing silks.^[3] When racing in Britain, and later when standing there as a stallion the horse was known as "Chanteur II".

Racing career

Assessment

The independent Timeform organisation assigned a rating of 135 to Chanteur in 1947 (the first year for which annual ratings were published), making him the equal of Souverain as the highest-rated older horse in Europe. Marsyas, who did not race in Britain that year, was not included in the ratings.^[12]

In their book A Century of Champions, based on a modified version of the Timeform system, John Randall and Tony Morris rated Chanteur the thirty-seventh best French-trained horse of the 20th century and the third-best horse foaled in 1942, behind Caracalla and Dante.^[13]

Stud record

Chanteur was retired from racing to stand at Hill's Sezincote Stud in Gloucestershire, England. He had his greatest success in his second season as a breeding stallion when he sired The Derby winner Pinza whose victories led to Chanteur becoming the Leading sire in Great Britain and Ireland in 1953.^[14] His other notable progeny included the British classic winners Cantelo and Only for Life. Chanteur died at the Highclere Stud at Newmarket, Suffolk in 1962.

Pedigree

References