Chelokee
Encyclopedia
Chelokee is an American Thoroughbred
Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...

 racehorse. Bred by Foley Farms Bloodstock, he was sired by multiple stakes winner Cherokee Run
Cherokee Run
Cherokee Run is an American thoroughbred stallion racehorse. He was sired by 1982 Canadian Hall of Fame inductee Runaway Groom, who in turn was a son of leading sire Blushing Groom...

. He was out of the mare Dixie Ghost, who is the daughter of Mississippi Dixie by Dixie Bandland, and traces directly back to Northern Dancer
Northern Dancer
Northern Dancer was a Canadian-bred Thoroughbred racehorse and the most successful sire of the 20th Century. The National Thoroughbred Racing Association calls him "one of the most influential sires in Thoroughbred history"....

, Nearco
Nearco
Nearco was an Italian bred Thoroughbred racehorse described by Thoroughbred Heritage as "one of the greatest racehorses of the Twentieth Century" and "one of the most important sires of the century." He was not only unbeaten, winning 14 races at distances from 5 furlongs to 1 mile 7 furlongs ,...

, Nashua
Nashua (horse)
Nashua was an American-born thoroughbred racehorse, perhaps best remembered for a 1955 match race against the horse that had defeated him in the Kentucky Derby.Nashua's sire was the good, but temperamental, European champion Nasrullah...

, and Man o' War
Man O' War
Man O' War, man o' war or manowar may refer to:* Man-of-war, a warship* Man of war for uses with this spelling - Places :...

.

At three, Chelokee won the Northern Dancer Breeders Cup Stakes (Grade 3) , the inaugural Barbaro Stakes
Barbaro Stakes at Pimlico Race Course
The Barbaro Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds held annually at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. It is run as part of the undercard for the Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the U.S. Triple Crown series...

 and placed third in the Florida Derby
Florida Derby
The Florida Derby is an American Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-old horses held annually at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Florida on the Saturday closest to the end of March or the first of April. Added to the racing schedule in 1952, the Grade 1 race is run at 1⅛ miles on the dirt...

 (Grade 1). During the running of the 2008 Alysheba Stakes
Alysheba Stakes
The Alysheba Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Churchill Downs racetrack in Louisville, Kentucky. The Alysheba became the most recent addition to the Derby Week stakes lineup as it joined the schedule in 2004 and is currently run on the undercard of the Kentucky Oaks,...

, Chelokee suffered a career ending injury when he slipped and broke his ankle going down the stretch. Chelokee was rushed to the Equine Hospital were surgeons successfully repaired his shattered ankle.

With his racing career over and now having a deformed ankle, Chelokee was sent to stud at Tom Simon’s Vinery in Lexington, KY. Chelokee successfully covered 24 mares in 2009, but having an injury that prevented him to be put out to pasture and a hoof which required a special glue on shoe and 24 hour care.

Chelokee's owner, Centennial Farms decided to donate him to the University of Arizona
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...

's Equine Center in Tucson. At the center, faculty and students could care for him 24 hours a day; there he can get all the love and medical attention he would require. Chelokee will be implemented to the schools Thoroughbred breeding program which is part of the University of Arizona Race Track Industry Program (RTIP).

"Everybody was excited about this plan, because we knew it's a great home and that the students would fall in love with him. He's got a great personality and is a beautiful individual" - Centennial President Don Little Jr
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