Pleasant Colony

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 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.

Early racing career 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. Ridden by jockey Jeffrey Fell, Pleasant Colony then won April's Wood Memorial Stakes by three lengths.

Triple Crown races 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.

Later racing career 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. At year's end, he was voted the Eclipse Award for Outstanding 3-Year-Old Male Horse.

As a sire 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.

Sire line tree

Pleasant ColonyDarley Arabian Sire Line: St Simon BranchAmerican Classic Pedigree: Pleasant ColonyPleasant Colony: 1981 Kentucky Derby Winner Was a Genuine RacehorseThe Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia Has Four Horses From The Nearly Dead St. Simon Sire Line Lac Ouimet Pleasant Variety Cherokee ColonyCalifornia Stallion Cherokee Colony Dies CherokeeinthehillsCherokeeinthehills strong in steeplechase Pleasant TapAmerican Classic Pedigree: Pleasant TapPleasant Tap: Handsome, honest, reliable – on screen he would have been typecast as the loyal best friend Pleasant Breeze Tap Dance City David JuniorClassic Pedigree Profile: David Junior Premium TapPremium Tap Pours It On in Woodward ShockPremium Tap Wins in Saudi ArabiaPremium Tap Wins Again in Saudi ArabiaPremium Tap Will Not Return to U.S. Aan Alawaan Amtae Aelam Beladi TiagoAdena Springs Stallion Tiago Euthanized Viva Majorca Sahara SkySahara Sky Sires First Winner at Indiana GrandSahara Sky’s Pedigree Makes Him a Rare Specimen Sky Judge Roanoke Sir BeaufortOld, 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. St JoviteAmerican Classic Pedigree: St JoviteTop European Horse St. Jovite Dies at Age 27European Horse Of The Year St. Jovite Euthanized Amerique Colonial AffairAmerican Classic Pedigree: Colonial AffairColonial Affair Dies in Argentina Cafrune BehrensThree-Time Grade I Winner Behrens Dies Forbidden AppleGrade I Winner Forbidden Apple Passes AwayFlorida-bred Millionaire Forbidden Apple Passes at Age 29'Teacher,' 'Companion': Grade 1 Winner Forbidden Apple Dies At 30TRF Honors the Life of Forbidden Apple at Age 29Foundation honors the life of retired racer Forbidden AppleGrade 1 Winner, Former Stallion Forbidden Apple Dies Forbidden Bear Colonial ColonyUnderdogs in Horse Racing: Colonial Colony Denon Pleasantly PerfectAmerican Classic Pedigree: Pleasently PerfectPleasantly Perfect Dies in Turkey at 22Breeders' Cup Classic Hero Pleasantly Perfect Dies In Turkey Rapid ReduxRapid Redux retired Idalino WhitmoreWhitmore Adjusts to Life as a Retired Racehorse King Of The Sun Secret Lover Official Visit Almobeer

Pedigree

Pleasant Colony

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