Pleasant Colony
| Pleasant Colony | |
|---|---|
| Sire | His Majesty |
| Grandsire | Ribot |
| Dam | Sun Colony |
| Damsire | Sunrise Flight |
| Sex | Stallion |
| Foaled | 1978 |
| Country | United States |
| Colour | Dark Bay |
| Breeder | Thomas Mellon Evans |
| Owner | Buckland Farm |
| Trainer | John P. Campo |
| Record | 14: 6–3–1 |
| Earnings | $965,383 |
| Major wins | |
| Remsen Stakes (1980) Wood Memorial Stakes (1981) Woodward Stakes (1981) American Triple Crown wins: Kentucky Derby (1981) Preakness Stakes (1981) | |
| Awards | |
| American Champion 3-Yr-Old Colt (1981) | |
| Honours | |
| Aiken Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame (1982) | |
| Last updated on January 23, 2010 | |
Pleasant Colony (May 4, 1978 – December 31, 2002) was a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 1981 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes and was named the 1981 American Champion Three-Year-Old.
Background
[edit]A big, gangly horse standing just under seventeen hands, Pleasant Colony was a grandson of Ribot. He was bred by Wall Street financier Thomas Mellon Evans and raced under his Buckland Farm banner.[1]
Early racing career
[edit]At age two, Pleasant Colony won two of his five starts including the Remsen Stakes. At age three, in the spring of 1981 he was second in the Fountain of Youth Stakes. Pleasant Colony lost 3 of 4 races to Akureyri. He lost the Fountain of Youth Stakes and the Pilgrim Stakes besides finishing behind Akureyri in the Florida Derby. He also was defeated by Akureyri in the Remsen Stakes but was placed first through disqualification. After Pleasant Colony's fifth-place finish in March's Florida Derby, his owner dismissed his trainer and replaced him with John P. Campo.[1] Ridden by jockey Jeffrey Fell, Pleasant Colony then won April's Wood Memorial Stakes by three lengths.[1]
Triple Crown races
[edit]In the 1981 Kentucky Derby under regular jockey Jorge Velásquez, Pleasant Colony held off a powerful stretch drive by Woodchopper to win by three-quarters of a length. The expected rivalry with Woodchopper never materialized in the Preakness Stakes. Pleasant Colony came from behind to win by a length over Arkansas Derby winner Bold Ego with Woodchopper far back in eleventh place. In the third and final leg of the Triple Crown series, the Belmont Stakes, Pleasant Colony finished third to winner Summing.[1]
Later racing career
[edit]Pleasant Colony won the Grade I Woodward Stakes. After a fourth in the Marlboro Cup Invitational Handicap, and a reported leg injury, he was retired to stud duty at Buckland Farm.[1] At year's end, he was voted the Eclipse Award for Outstanding 3-Year-Old Male Horse.
As a sire
[edit]From 1982 at age 4, until 1998 at age 20, Pleasant Colony stood at Thomas Mellon Evans's Buckland Farm annex outside Lexington, Kentucky on Paris Pike near the Fayette County and Bourbon County line. He became a very significant sire, producing seventy-three stakes race winners including more than a dozen Grade I winners and the following champions:
- Pleasant Stage – the 1991 Champion Two-Year-Old Filly and winner of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies
- Pleasant Tap – the 1992 Champion Older Male
- St Jovite – winner of the 1992 Irish Derby and King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes
- Pleasantly Perfect – winner of the 2003 Breeders' Cup Classic and 2004 Dubai World Cup, and sire of the champion sprinter Whitmore
- Colonial Colony – winner of the 2004 Stephen Foster Handicap
Pleasant Colony's daughters have produced a number of Grade 1 stakes race winners. He is the damsire of Forestry, sire of The Green Monkey sold at the February 2006 Fasig-Tipton Florida auction for a world record price of $16-million. The Green Monkey had almost no success at the racetrack and is now standing at stud.
Following his owner's death in 1997, Pleasant Colony was sent to Blue Ridge Farm in Upperville, Virginia, where he died in 2002 at age 24.
After his death, Pleasant Colony returned to Buckland Farm to be buried in the primary field of Barn 4, the Broodmare Barn, in the field adjacent to the farm's main house site.
Pleasant Colony's veterinarian Dr. Janice Runkle, 27 at the time, was the first female vet ever to care for a Derby entrant or winner. Later in the summer of 1981 her body was found in a bushy beach area on the shore of Lake Michigan north of Chicago, the ruling of suicide remains controversial decades later.[1]
Sire line tree
[edit]- Pleasant Colony[2][3][4][5][6]
- Lac Ouimet[7][8]
- Pleasant Variety
- Cherokee Colony[9]
- Cherokeeinthehills[10]
- Pleasant Tap[11][12]
- Pleasant Breeze
- Tap Dance City
- David Junior[13]
- Premium Tap[14][15][16][17]
- Aan Alawaan
- Amtae
- Aelam Beladi
- Tiago[18]
- Viva Majorca
- Sahara Sky[19][20]
- Sky Judge
- Roanoke
- Sir Beaufort[21]
- St Jovite[7][22][8]
- Colonial Affair[23][24]
- Cafrune
- Behrens[25]
- Forbidden Apple[26][27][28][29][30][31]
- Forbidden Bear
- Colonial Colony[32]
- Denon
- Pleasantly Perfect[33][34][35]
- Rapid Redux[36]
- Idalino
- Whitmore[37]
- King Of The Sun
- Secret Lover
- Official Visit
- Almobeer
Pedigree
[edit]| Sire His Majesty bay 1968 |
Ribot
bay 1952 |
Tenerani | Bellini |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tofanella | |||
| Romanella | El Greco | ||
| Barbara Burrini | |||
| Flower Bowl
bay 1952 |
Alibhai | Hyperion | |
| Teresina | |||
| Flower Bed | Beau Pere | ||
| Boudoir | |||
| Dam Sun Colony bay 1968 |
Sunrise Flight
drk.brn. 1959 |
Double Jay | Balladier |
| Broomshot | |||
| Misty Morn | Princequillo | ||
| Grey Flight | |||
| Colonia
bay 1959 |
Cockrullah | Nasrullah | |
| Summerleaze | |||
| Nalga | Guatan | ||
| Nagoya |
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f Wertheim, Jon (27 April 2021). "Pleasant Colony and the Crown of Thorns". Sports Illustrated. Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
- ^ Sire Line: Galopin
- ^ Darley Arabian Sire Line: St Simon Branch
- ^ American Classic Pedigree: Pleasant Colony
- ^ Pleasant Colony: 1981 Kentucky Derby Winner Was a Genuine Racehorse
- ^ The Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia Has Four Horses From The Nearly Dead St. Simon Sire Line
- ^ a b Amercian Classic Pedigree: St Jovite
- ^ a b European Horse Of The Year St. Jovite Euthanized
- ^ California Stallion Cherokee Colony Dies
- ^ Cherokeeinthehills strong in steeplechase
- ^ American Classic Pedigree: Pleasant Tap
- ^ Pleasant Tap: Handsome, honest, reliable – on screen he would have been typecast as the loyal best friend
- ^ Classic Pedigree Profile: David Junior
- ^ Premium Tap Pours It On in Woodward Shock
- ^ Premium Tap Wins in Saudi Arabia
- ^ Premium Tap Wins Again in Saudi Arabia
- ^ Premium Tap Will Not Return to U.S.
- ^ Adena Springs Stallion Tiago Euthanized
- ^ Sahara Sky Sires First Winner at Indiana Grand
- ^ Sahara Sky’s Pedigree Makes Him a Rare Specimen
- ^ Old, Gray Sir Beaufort Better Than Used to Be : Big ‘Cap: Six-year-old beats 59-1 Star Recruit by a nose for his richest victory. Best Pal, other favorites finish out of money.
- ^ Top European Horse St. Jovite Dies at Age 27
- ^ American Classic Pedigree: Colonial Affair
- ^ Colonial Affair Dies in Argentina
- ^ Three-Time Grade I Winner Behrens Dies
- ^ Grade I Winner Forbidden Apple Passes Away
- ^ Florida-bred Millionaire Forbidden Apple Passes at Age 29
- ^ 'Teacher,' 'Companion': Grade 1 Winner Forbidden Apple Dies At 30
- ^ TRF Honors the Life of Forbidden Apple at Age 29
- ^ Foundation honors the life of retired racer Forbidden Apple
- ^ Grade 1 Winner, Former Stallion Forbidden Apple Dies
- ^ Underdogs in Horse Racing: Colonial Colony
- ^ American Classic Pedigree: Pleasently Perfect
- ^ Pleasantly Perfect Dies in Turkey at 22
- ^ Breeders' Cup Classic Hero Pleasantly Perfect Dies In Turkey
- ^ Rapid Redux retired
- ^ Whitmore Adjusts to Life as a Retired Racehorse
- Pleasant Colony's pedigree and racing stats
- 2003 Churchill Downs story on Pleasant Colony and trainer John Campo
- Pleasant Colony's Kentucky Derby
- Henriques, Diana B. The White Sharks of Wall Street: Thomas Mellon Evans & the Original Corporate Raiders (2000) Scribner ISBN 978-0-684-83399-6