Colin (horse)

Colin
Sire Commando
Grandsire Domino
Dam Pastorella
Damsire Springfield
Sex Stallion
Foaled 1905
Country United States
Colour Brown
Breeder Castleton Stud
Owner James R. Keene
Trainer James G. Rowe, Sr.
Record 15:15–0–0
Earnings $180,912[1]
Major wins
National Stallion Stakes (1907)
Great Trial Stakes (1907)
Champagne Stakes (1907)
Brighton Junior Stakes (1907)
Saratoga Special Stakes (1907)
Grand Union Hotel Stakes (1907)
Futurity Stakes (1907)
Matron Stakes (Colts' Div. 1907)
Flatbush Stakes (1907)
Eclipse Stakes (1907)
Produce Stakes (second half, 1907)
Withers Stakes (1908)
Belmont Stakes (1908)
Tidal Stakes (1908)
Awards
Horse of the Year (1907, 1908)
U.S. Champion 3-Year-Old Male (1908)
Honours
United States Racing Hall of Fame (1956)
#15 - Top 100 U.S. Racehorses of the 20th Century
Last updated on 20 August 2009

Colin (1905-1932) was one of America's greatest Thoroughbred racehorses. He retired undefeated after 15 starts and as a sire appears in the pedigree of the champion racehorse Alsab.

Pedigree

Colin was a brown colt with three white socks and a stripe and snip on his face. He was foaled in 1905 at Castleton Stud in Kentucky and was owned by London-born financier James R. Keene. Colin was from the third crop of foals by the stakes winner and leading sire Commando (by Domino), who had been bred by James Keene. Colin's dam was the English stakes-winning Pastorella (GB), by Springfield.

Racing career

Colin was trained by Hall of Fame inductee James G. Rowe, Sr. Rowe had handled many top horses in his long career, including Sysonby, Hindoo (who was never unplaced), and the first filly to win the Kentucky Derby, Regret. Rowe and his horses Miss Woodford, Luke Blackburn, Whisk Broom II, Commando, and Peter Pan were inducted into the Hall of Fame.

James Keene was not initially enthusiastic about Colin, noting his disfiguring curb, or thoroughpin, meaning that the colt had an enlarged hock. He'd been just as disdainful of an earlier purchase: Colin's grandsire Domino, (another eventual Horse of the Year in 1893 and Hall of Famer), but his son, Foxwell Keene, bought Domino anyway.

A friend of Keene's, De Courcey Forbes, always named the Castleton foals. Colin was for "Poor Colin", a pastoral poem by the English poet laureate Nicholas Rowe, thus connecting the name of Colin's dam and the name of his trainer, who took a keen interest in his horses. A hands-on trainer, Rowe was famous for the personal attention he paid to his horses. He literally traveled in the same railroad car with them. Aware that Colin's swollen hock would give him trouble, Rowe attended to it with massages and cold water baths.

Consistently rated as one of the best horses in American racing history, and a celebrity with both fans and horsemen, Colin started fifteen times in his two-year career and never lost. Twelve of these races came when he was a two-year-old. In an age that valued stamina and maturity, Colin was still viewed with awe by the horsemen of his time. Sportswriter Abram Hewitt said, "The blood surges, and the pulses quicken at the very sight of such Olympians on the track." Hewitt had "listened to old-time horsemen talk about Colin with an other-world expression on their faces." Colin was voted the Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year twice: in 1907 and 1908. He was also America's Champion Three-Year-Old Male in 1908.

Two-year-old season

Three-year-old season

Colin's last victory came on June 20, 1908, after which he was sent to England to race, but was pulled up lame in a workout and was retired.[1]

Stud record

Colin stood his first season in 1909 at Heath Stud, near Newmarket, England, for a fee of 98 guineas. He was neglected by the English breeders due to his American bloodlines. First in England, and then back in Kentucky after Keene died, Colin was plagued by infertility problems. In c. 1913, Colin was purchased for $30,000 by Wickliffe Stud, where he stood until the stud was dispersed in January 1918. Edward B. McLean then purchased the 13-year-old Colin for $5,100 to stand at his Belray Farm, near Middleburg, Virginia. He sired 11 stakes winners out of 81 foals in 23 seasons at stud, which translates into 14% of his get. His best galloper was Jock (1924 from Kathleen by *Sempronius; 17 wins and $95,255). His son Neddie was the paternal grandsire of the great Alsab. Another was On Watch, the broodmare sire of another great, Stymie.[2]

Colin died in 1932 at the age of twenty-seven on Belray Farm near Middleburg, Virginia. His lifetime earnings amounted to $180,912.

Kent Hollingsworth wrote in "The Great Ones": "Great horses have been beaten by mischance, racing luck, injury and lesser horses running the race of their lives. None of these, however, took Colin. He was unbeatable."

Honors

Colin was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1956. In The Blood-Horse magazine ranking of the top 100 U.S. thoroughbred champions of the 20th Century, he was ranked #15. It was eighty years before another horse, Personal Ensign, retired unbeaten in America.

During his day, James Rowe was considered America's greatest trainer. Yet all he wanted on his epitaph were these three words: “He trained Colin.”[3]

Tabulated pedigree

Pedigree of Colin, Br.h. 1905
Sire
Commando
Bay 1898
Domino
Bay 1891
Himyar Alarm
Hira
Mannie Gray Enquirer
Lizzie G.
Emma C.
Bay 1892
Darebin The Peer
Lurline
Guenn Flood
Glendew
Dam
Pastorella
Chestnut 1892
Springfield
Bay 1873
St.Albans Stockwell
Bribery
Viridis Marsyas
Maid of Palmyra
Griselda
Gr. 1878
Strathconan Newminster
Souvenir
Perseverance Voltigeur
Spinster (Family: 19-b)

See also

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Ahnert, Rainer L. (editor in chief), “Thoroughbred Breeding of the World”, Pozdun Publishing, Germany, 1970
  2. Thoroughbred Heritage: Colin Retrieved on 2009-8-20
  3. National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame

External links