Col. Phil T. Chinn
1874 - 1962
Col. Phil T. Chinn's place in the history of Thoroughbred racing and breeding would be secure on the facts alone, for he bred, trained, raced, bought, and sold a number of important horses. It was as a character and raconteur, however, that Col. Chinn was best remembered by those who knew him.
Son of Black Jack Chinn, a rough-hewn Kentucky politician, horseman, and brawler, Phil Thompson Chinn was about twelve when he won the Somerset Derby on a family mare. He later headed for the racetrack, aligning himself with individuals highly attuned to utilizing the bookmaking system of betting then legal.
In his prime day, Col. Chinn operated Himyar stud in Kentucky, selling more than $3 million worth of yearlings at Saratoga during the 1920s. He stood the leading sire High Time and bred sixty-four stakes winners, including In Memoriam. Chinn seemed emotionally impervious to the ebb and flow of monetary fortune and was as generous a lender in flush times as he was an imaginative solicitor of funding in dry times.
Marker can be reached from the intersection of East Main Street (U.S. 60) and Midland Avenue (U.S. 60), on the right when traveling west.
Courtesy hmdb.org
