Pleasant Colony

Thoroughbred racehorse infobox
horsename = Pleasant Colony


caption =
sire = His Majesty
grandsire = Ribot
dam = Sun Colony
damsire = Sunrise Flight
sex = Stallion
foaled = 1978
country = United States flagicon|USA
colour = Dark Bay
breeder = Thomas Mellon Evans
owner = Buckland Farm
trainer = John P. Campo
record = 14: 6-3-1
earnings = $965,383
race = Remsen Stakes (1980)
Wood Memorial Stakes (1981)
Kentucky Derby (1981)
Preakness Stakes (1981)
Woodward Stakes (1981)
awards= U.S. Champion 3-Yr-Old Colt (1981)
honours = Aiken Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame (1982)
updated= March 20, 2007

Pleasant Colony (May 4, 1978 - December 31, 2002) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the first two legs of the 1981 U.S. Triple Crown series.

A big, gangly horse, standing just under seventeen hands, Pleasant Colony was a grandson of the great Ribot. Bred by Wall Street financier Thomas Mellon Evans and raced under his Buckland Farm banner, 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. After a fifth place finish in March's Florida Derby, his owner dismissed his trainer and replaced him with John P. Campo. Pleasant Colony responded to the change and ridden by jockey Jeffrey Fell won April's Wood Memorial Stakes by three lengths.

In the 1981 Kentucky Derby under regular jockey Jorge Velasquez, 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 full 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 fell short, finishing third to winner, Summing.

Pleasant Colony went on to win the Grade I Woodward Stakes and after a fourth place finish in the Marlboro Cup Invitational Handicap 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 to 1998, Pleasant Colony stood at Thomas Mellon Evans's historic Buckland Farm in Buckland, Virginia. He became a very significant sire, producing seventy-three stakes race winners including more than a dozen Grade I winners and the Champions:

* Pleasant Stage - 1991 Eclipse Award for Outstanding 2-Year-Old Filly and winner of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies
* Pleasant Tap - 1992 Eclipse Award for Outstanding Older Male Horse
* Colonial Affair - won 1993 Belmont Stakes, 1994 Jockey Club Gold Cup
* St. Jovite - European champion won the 1992 Irish Derby, George VI & Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes
* Pleasantly Perfect - won 2002 & 2003 Goodwood Breeders' Cup Handicap, 2003 Breeders' Cup Classic, 2004 Dubai World Cup

Pleasant Colony’s daughters have produced a number of Grade 1 stakes race winners. He is the damsire of Forestry, sire of a yearling (now named The Green Monkey) sold at the February 2006 Fasig-Tipton Florida auction for a world record price of $16-million.

Following his owner's death in 1997, Pleasant Colony was sent to Lane's End Farm in Versailles, Kentucky. In 2000 he was pensioned and sent to Blue Ridge Farm in Upperville, Virginia where he died in 2002 at age 24.

References

* [http://www.pedigreequery.com/pleasant+colony Pleasant Colony's pedigree and racing stats]
* [http://www.kentuckyderby.com/2003/derby_coverage/derby_news/derby_news_01032003.html 2003 Churchill Downs story on Pleasant Colony and trainer John Campo]
* [http://www.kentuckyderby.com/2005/derby_history/derby_charts/years/1981.html Pleasant Colony's Kentucky Derby]
* Henriques, Diana B. "The White Sharks of Wall Street: Thomas Mellon Evans & the Original Corporate Raiders" (2000) Scribner ISBN 978-0684833996