Thursday, November 12, 2009

Colonel John Retires

Colonel John, last seen finishing 5th in the 2009 Breeders' Cup has retired and will stand at Winstar farm, joining his sire Tiznow. I liked Colonel John in the Breeders' Cup and had him in my 4 horse box trifecta on Breeders Cup day with Zenyatta, Gio Ponti and Summer Bird. The Zenyatta stretch drive was thrilling, but I sure wished Summer Bird or Colonel John could have held on for 3rd instead of leaving me with a worthless betting slip.

I have an affinity for all Travers Stakes winners, so I continued to follow Colonel John after his win by a nose over Mambo in Seattle in the 2008 Travers Stakes. It seems so many of our 3 year old stars retire as a 3 year old, so it is always pleasing when a 2 time Grade 1 Stakes winner as a 3 year old (he also won the Santa Anita Derby in '08) goes on to run as a 4 year old.

He also won a race on all 3 surfaces earning a place in the Omnisurface Stars list winning a Grade 1 over dirt (Travers Stakes), a Grade 1 over synthetic (Santa Anita Derby) and a ungraded Stakes over grass (Wickerr Stakes) .

He retires with over 1.7 million in earnings with wins on both coasts and all 3 surfaces-not bad at all. Here he is winning the '08 Travers Stakes at the Spa.

1 comment:

John said...

I thought Colonel John was sitting on a big race for the BC. Nice recap on this horse and his career.