With the 2025 Kentucky Derby fast approaching, this seems an appropriate time to review the last filly to win the great race. Winning Colors lived up to her name in 1988, flying the colors of Eugene Klein to a neck victory over Forty Niner. She failed to live up to hopes as a broodmare, but on April 19, her granddaughter Princess Aliyah became a stakes winner and continued the growth of her legacy through her daughters.
Bred in Kentucky by Echo Valley Horse Farm, Winning Colors was sired by 1971 French champion older male Caro, a big, strong horse whose other North American progeny included 1989 Canadian Triple Crown winner and Horse of the Year With Approval and Siberian Express. The last-named horse crossed the Atlantic back to his sire’s native land and won the classic Poule d’Essai des Poulains (French Two Thousand Guineas, FR-G1) in 1984, a race that Caro had won in 1970 on the disqualification of Faraway Son. Caro’s male line persists today through the sons and grandsons of Siberian Express’s grandson Indian Charlie, whose son Uncle Mo was the American champion juvenile male of 2011. Uncle Mo, in turn, sired the line’s current banner-bearer, Nyquist, who was the American champion juvenile male of 2015 and won the 2016 Kentucky Derby.
Caro bequeathed his rugged make and a fair measure of the rather infamous disposition of Grey Sovereign (his grandsire and a son of the tempestuous Nasrullah) to Winning Colors, a US$675,000 yearling purchase by trainer D. Wayne Lukas on behalf of Eugene Klein. Her price reflected her size and excellent conformation as well as an excellent female family. Produced from the stakes winner All Rainbows (by Bold Hour), she is a “niece” to 1974 American champion 3-year-old filly Chris Evert (by Swoon’s Son), whose branch of the family includes 1984 American champion 2-year-old male and good sire Chief’s Crown and Grade/Group 1 winners Classic Crown, Dominican, Etoile Montante, Giulia, Lambent Light, Pasqualetti, Sightseek, Special Duty, and Tates Creek. Miss Carmie (by T. V. Lark), the dam of All Rainbows and Chris Evert, was a stakes winner in her own right and had several other stakes-producing daughters.
After winning at first asking in a seven-furlong maiden race at Saratoga, Winning Colors did not run again until the winter/spring Santa Anita meeting. She picked up wins in a six-furlong allowance race and the 1988 La Centinela Stakes before running into a tough customer in Goodbye Halo, who handed her a surprise loss by a neck in the one-mile Las Virgenes Stakes (G1). The Caro filly avenged herself in their next meeting, the Santa Anita Oaks (USA-G1), which Winning Colors took by eight lengths from Jeanne Jones with Goodbye Halo third.
With the Southern California sophomore colts appearing to lack any clear standouts, Lukas had no qualms about wheeling his big filly back in the Santa Anita Derby (USA-G1) four weeks later. She won laughing by 7¼ lengths in her usual front-running style over Lively One, who would win the Swaps Stakes, USA-G1, at the Hollywood meeting later in the year. That race punched her ticket to the Kentucky Derby. She trained splendidly up to the race and entered the starting gate as second choice in the betting behind Private Terms, who held favoritism by a razor-thin margin.
The story of the race is simply told. Gary Stevens put Winning Colors on the lead from the start and no one went with her, letting the filly coast through fractions of :46-4/5 for the first half-mile, 1:11-2/5 for the three-quarters, and 1:36 for the mile. It took her 26-1/5 seconds the run the last quarter-mile, but that was just enough to hold Forty Niner’s furious closing run by a neck.
Winning Colors followed 1980 Kentucky Derby winner Genuine Risk through the Triple Crown races, becoming the second filly to compete in all three, but a suicidal speed duel with Forty Niner in the Preakness Stakes (USA-G1) cost both any chance of winning the middle jewel of the Triple Crown. Winning Colors ended up a leg-weary third behind Risen Star, who had been third in the Derby after a rough trip; Forty Niner finished seventh and was not seen again until the Monmouth summer meeting, when he won an epic duel against Seeking the Gold in the Haskell Invitational Handicap (USA-G1). The two turned in an encore performance in the Travers Stakes (USA-G1) at Saratoga, with Forty Niner again winning by a nose, and Forty Niner was later a strong second to eventual Horse of the Year Alysheba in the Woodward Handicap (USA-G1) and won the NYRA Mile Handicap to finish his year.
Winning Colors probably should have skipped the Belmont Stakes (USA-G1) as well; a shadow of what she had been in the Derby, she led for the first mile but was easily overhauled by eventual American champion 3-year-old male Risen Star, who won the “Test of the Champion” by 14¾ lengths with the filly sixth and last. The remainder of her year is remembered for two tremendous races against unbeaten Personal Ensign, the year’s American champion older female. In the one-mile Maskette Stakes (USA-G1), Winning Colors ran a game race on the front end before going down to her 4-year-old rival by three-quarters of a length. In the Breeders’ Cup Distaff (USA-G1), Winning Colors was back to her very best form and caught a wet Churchill Downs track that she relished and Personal Ensign did not. Winning Colors ran what would have been a winning race against any other rival, and that Personal Ensign managed to catch her in the final stride to win by a nose marked her as a champion for the ages. Scrappy Goodbye Halo, whose four Grade 1 wins during the year included both the Kentucky Oaks and the Coaching Club American Oaks, was another half-length back in third, rounding out the top three in one of the best Breeders’ Cup races ever.
At four, Winning Colors failed to recover her best form and retired to the paddocks at the end of the season with eight wins and US$1,526,837 in earnings to her credit from 19 starts. She produced 10 named foals, all by top Kentucky stallions, but none were remotely close to what she had been as a racer. To say that her results were disappointing was an understatement, especially considering the record of her much less accomplished half sister. All Dance (by Northern Dancer) produced 2003 Japan Cup (JPN-G1) winner Tap Dance City (by Pleasant Tap) and two other stakes winners. Another half sister, Forever Rainbows (by Deputy Minister), is the second dam of 2018 Gran Premio General San Martín (ARG-G1) winner Tiger Feet.
Fortunately for Winning Colors’ legacy, four of her daughters have become stakes producers. The first, Shbakni (by Mr. Prospector), produced 2014 Swiss champion steeplechaser Shaabek (by Byron) and is the second dam of three stakes winners including 2010 Czech champion sprinter and 2011 Slovakian champion sprinter Line Honey. She is also the third dam of Indian Horse of the Year Adjudicate. She was followed by Golden Colors (by Mr, Prospector), dam of Japanese Group 3 winner Cheerful Smile (by Sunday Silence), and Stormin Winnie (by Storm Cat), dam of French listed stakes winner La Conseillante (by Elusive Quality).
Winning Colors saved the best for last with Silver Colors, a daughter of the good Mr. Prospector grandson Mr. Greeley. This mare is the dam of 2018 Alabama Stakes (USA-G1) winner Eskimo Kisses (by To Honor and Serve) and is also the dam of 3-year-old Princess Aliyah (by Into Mischief), now the winner of the Valley of the Vapors Stakes at Oaklawn Park. She is trained by none other than D. Wayne Lukas, and though she won’t be going in either the Kentucky Oaks or the Kentucky Derby, she brings the story full circle, back to a fire-eating filly who showed the boys her heels in America’s most storied race 37 years ago.
Bred in Kentucky by Echo Valley Horse Farm, Winning Colors was sired by 1971 French champion older male Caro, a big, strong horse whose other North American progeny included 1989 Canadian Triple Crown winner and Horse of the Year With Approval and Siberian Express. The last-named horse crossed the Atlantic back to his sire’s native land and won the classic Poule d’Essai des Poulains (French Two Thousand Guineas, FR-G1) in 1984, a race that Caro had won in 1970 on the disqualification of Faraway Son. Caro’s male line persists today through the sons and grandsons of Siberian Express’s grandson Indian Charlie, whose son Uncle Mo was the American champion juvenile male of 2011. Uncle Mo, in turn, sired the line’s current banner-bearer, Nyquist, who was the American champion juvenile male of 2015 and won the 2016 Kentucky Derby.
Caro bequeathed his rugged make and a fair measure of the rather infamous disposition of Grey Sovereign (his grandsire and a son of the tempestuous Nasrullah) to Winning Colors, a US$675,000 yearling purchase by trainer D. Wayne Lukas on behalf of Eugene Klein. Her price reflected her size and excellent conformation as well as an excellent female family. Produced from the stakes winner All Rainbows (by Bold Hour), she is a “niece” to 1974 American champion 3-year-old filly Chris Evert (by Swoon’s Son), whose branch of the family includes 1984 American champion 2-year-old male and good sire Chief’s Crown and Grade/Group 1 winners Classic Crown, Dominican, Etoile Montante, Giulia, Lambent Light, Pasqualetti, Sightseek, Special Duty, and Tates Creek. Miss Carmie (by T. V. Lark), the dam of All Rainbows and Chris Evert, was a stakes winner in her own right and had several other stakes-producing daughters.
After winning at first asking in a seven-furlong maiden race at Saratoga, Winning Colors did not run again until the winter/spring Santa Anita meeting. She picked up wins in a six-furlong allowance race and the 1988 La Centinela Stakes before running into a tough customer in Goodbye Halo, who handed her a surprise loss by a neck in the one-mile Las Virgenes Stakes (G1). The Caro filly avenged herself in their next meeting, the Santa Anita Oaks (USA-G1), which Winning Colors took by eight lengths from Jeanne Jones with Goodbye Halo third.
With the Southern California sophomore colts appearing to lack any clear standouts, Lukas had no qualms about wheeling his big filly back in the Santa Anita Derby (USA-G1) four weeks later. She won laughing by 7¼ lengths in her usual front-running style over Lively One, who would win the Swaps Stakes, USA-G1, at the Hollywood meeting later in the year. That race punched her ticket to the Kentucky Derby. She trained splendidly up to the race and entered the starting gate as second choice in the betting behind Private Terms, who held favoritism by a razor-thin margin.
The story of the race is simply told. Gary Stevens put Winning Colors on the lead from the start and no one went with her, letting the filly coast through fractions of :46-4/5 for the first half-mile, 1:11-2/5 for the three-quarters, and 1:36 for the mile. It took her 26-1/5 seconds the run the last quarter-mile, but that was just enough to hold Forty Niner’s furious closing run by a neck.
Winning Colors followed 1980 Kentucky Derby winner Genuine Risk through the Triple Crown races, becoming the second filly to compete in all three, but a suicidal speed duel with Forty Niner in the Preakness Stakes (USA-G1) cost both any chance of winning the middle jewel of the Triple Crown. Winning Colors ended up a leg-weary third behind Risen Star, who had been third in the Derby after a rough trip; Forty Niner finished seventh and was not seen again until the Monmouth summer meeting, when he won an epic duel against Seeking the Gold in the Haskell Invitational Handicap (USA-G1). The two turned in an encore performance in the Travers Stakes (USA-G1) at Saratoga, with Forty Niner again winning by a nose, and Forty Niner was later a strong second to eventual Horse of the Year Alysheba in the Woodward Handicap (USA-G1) and won the NYRA Mile Handicap to finish his year.
Winning Colors probably should have skipped the Belmont Stakes (USA-G1) as well; a shadow of what she had been in the Derby, she led for the first mile but was easily overhauled by eventual American champion 3-year-old male Risen Star, who won the “Test of the Champion” by 14¾ lengths with the filly sixth and last. The remainder of her year is remembered for two tremendous races against unbeaten Personal Ensign, the year’s American champion older female. In the one-mile Maskette Stakes (USA-G1), Winning Colors ran a game race on the front end before going down to her 4-year-old rival by three-quarters of a length. In the Breeders’ Cup Distaff (USA-G1), Winning Colors was back to her very best form and caught a wet Churchill Downs track that she relished and Personal Ensign did not. Winning Colors ran what would have been a winning race against any other rival, and that Personal Ensign managed to catch her in the final stride to win by a nose marked her as a champion for the ages. Scrappy Goodbye Halo, whose four Grade 1 wins during the year included both the Kentucky Oaks and the Coaching Club American Oaks, was another half-length back in third, rounding out the top three in one of the best Breeders’ Cup races ever.
At four, Winning Colors failed to recover her best form and retired to the paddocks at the end of the season with eight wins and US$1,526,837 in earnings to her credit from 19 starts. She produced 10 named foals, all by top Kentucky stallions, but none were remotely close to what she had been as a racer. To say that her results were disappointing was an understatement, especially considering the record of her much less accomplished half sister. All Dance (by Northern Dancer) produced 2003 Japan Cup (JPN-G1) winner Tap Dance City (by Pleasant Tap) and two other stakes winners. Another half sister, Forever Rainbows (by Deputy Minister), is the second dam of 2018 Gran Premio General San Martín (ARG-G1) winner Tiger Feet.
Fortunately for Winning Colors’ legacy, four of her daughters have become stakes producers. The first, Shbakni (by Mr. Prospector), produced 2014 Swiss champion steeplechaser Shaabek (by Byron) and is the second dam of three stakes winners including 2010 Czech champion sprinter and 2011 Slovakian champion sprinter Line Honey. She is also the third dam of Indian Horse of the Year Adjudicate. She was followed by Golden Colors (by Mr, Prospector), dam of Japanese Group 3 winner Cheerful Smile (by Sunday Silence), and Stormin Winnie (by Storm Cat), dam of French listed stakes winner La Conseillante (by Elusive Quality).
Winning Colors saved the best for last with Silver Colors, a daughter of the good Mr. Prospector grandson Mr. Greeley. This mare is the dam of 2018 Alabama Stakes (USA-G1) winner Eskimo Kisses (by To Honor and Serve) and is also the dam of 3-year-old Princess Aliyah (by Into Mischief), now the winner of the Valley of the Vapors Stakes at Oaklawn Park. She is trained by none other than D. Wayne Lukas, and though she won’t be going in either the Kentucky Oaks or the Kentucky Derby, she brings the story full circle, back to a fire-eating filly who showed the boys her heels in America’s most storied race 37 years ago.
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