Sire: Tiznow
Grandsire: Cee's Tizzy
Dam: Sweet Damsel
Damsire: Turkoman
Other relatives: Unknown
Sex: Male
Foaled: 2005
Country: United States
Colour: Bay
Breeder: WinStar Farm
Owner: WinStar Farm
Trainer: Eoin Harty
Jockey: Garrett Gomez
Record: 15 Starts: 6 - 3 - 1
Earnings: $1,779,012
Major races: Santa Anita Derby (2008), Travers Stakes (2008)
Awards: Champion Three-Year-Old Male (2008)
Post Career: Entered stud in 2010 at WinStar Farm, KY in 2017 moved to Jeju-do Stud Farm, S. Korea
Colonel John was a top class three year old colt of 2008, the kind of strong, well bred stayer who could carry his speed all the way through ten furlongs in the heart of summer. He was a bay colt born in March of 2005 in Kentucky. His sire was Tiznow, the only horse ever to win the Breeders' Cup Classic twice and the 2000 Horse of the Year, who has gone on to be one of the most respected American sires of his era. His dam was Sweet Damsel, by Turkoman, the 1986 Champion Older Male and a son of the great Alydar. The pedigree was packed with classic American distance influences on both sides. He was raced by WinStar Farm as a homebred and trained by Eoin Harty, with Hall of Famer Garrett Gomez in the saddle for most of his important wins.
His three year old season made him one of the leaders of his generation. He started off in California with a sharp win in the Sham Stakes, then took the Santa Anita Derby, the most important Kentucky Derby prep race on the West Coast, in a strong performance that sent him east as a serious classic contender. The first Saturday in May did not go his way. He finished sixth behind Big Brown in the Kentucky Derby, then skipped the rest of the Triple Crown to regroup. He came back at the very best place and time. In August at Saratoga, he won the Travers Stakes, the historic Mid Summer Derby, by a nose over Mambo in Seattle in a great stretch run that also held off Pyro, Harlem Rocker, and Macho Again. The score made him a Grade 1 winner at the highest level of the three year old division and earned WinStar Farm one of the most prestigious wins on its books.
A small injury kept him out for the rest of 2008, and he came back at four to add a useful turf score in the Wickerr Stakes at Del Mar. He was a fine fifth in the Pacific Classic and then closed out his career running fifth in the 2009 Breeders' Cup Classic, the famous race where Zenyatta became the first mare ever to win the Classic. He retired with six wins from fifteen starts and earnings of more than 1.77 million dollars. He went home to WinStar Farm to stand at stud, and his offspring included graded stakes winners like Airoforce, Cocked and Loaded, and Dalmore. In 2016 he was sold to the Korea Thoroughbred Breeders Association and moved to Jeju Island in South Korea, where his offspring continue to run on the Korean racing circuit. Colonel John was a Grade 1 classic distance winner, a productive stallion in two countries, and one of the better stories from a Travers field deep enough to fill an entire summer's worth of headlines.
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