Pensive (USA)
February 5, 1941 – May 20, 1949
Hyperion (GB) x Penicuik II (GB), by Buchan (GB)
Family 1-p
February 5, 1941 – May 20, 1949
Hyperion (GB) x Penicuik II (GB), by Buchan (GB)
Family 1-p
Imported to the United States in utero, Pensive was a modest juvenile but signaled that he might have some real ability in the spring of his 3-year-old season by defeating Porter's Cap and Sun Again in the Rowe Memorial Handicap. After seconds in his next two races, he won both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes but never won again after the latter race, perhaps due to increasing leg problems. His early death was probably a significant loss to American breeding as the results obtained from his brief career suggest that he might have made a very good stallion.
Race record
22 starts, 7 wins, 5 seconds, 4 thirds, US$167,715
1943:
1944:
Assessments
Ranked second among American 3-year-old males of 1944 by The Blood-Horse.
As an individual
A chestnut horse, Pensive was often described as looking like a slightly larger version of his sire, with a muscular body and slightly short legs for his height. He did not have the best of feet. He did his best running from off the pace and was described as being “resolute” when set down for a drive. He was retired in the fall of 1944 due to tendon problems, which may have begun when he rapped an ankle while winning the Preakness Stakes.
As a stallion
Jockey Club records credit Pensive with 41 winners (77.4%) and six stakes winners (11.3%) from 53 named foals sired during his brief stud career.
Notable progeny
Ponder (USA), Theory (USA)
Connections
Foaled in Kentucky, Pensive was bred and owned by Calumet Farm and was trained by Ben Jones. He was ridden to his Derby and Preakness wins by Conn McCreary. He stood at Calumet until his death from a twisted intestine in May 1958 and was buried in the farm's equine cemetery.
Pedigree notes
Pensive is inbred 5x5 to two-time Australian champion sire Trenton and to Loved One, sire of the important broodmares Gondolette and Doris. He is a half brother to Altair (by Chance Play), dam of 1959 Chesapeake Stakes and 1960 Jamaica Handicap winner Rare Rice (by Olympia), and to Newbattle (by Château Bouscaut), dam of multiple stakes winner Little Rollo (by Count Gallahad) and second dam of 1958 Prince of Wales Stakes winner White Apache.
Pensive's dam Penicuik II was a non-winner but was a half sister to the high-class and durable gelding High Stakes (by Hyperion) and to stakes winner Golden Penny (by Hyperion), whose stakes-winning daughter Banri an Oir (by Royal Charger) produced 1960 Hollywood Oaks winner Paris Pike (by Tulyar), 1960 Del Mar Debutante Stakes winner Amri-An (by Ambiorix), 1966 San Marino Handicap winner Pelegrin (by Ambiorix) and 1969 Century Handicap winner Pinjara (by Ambiorix). Another daughter of Golden Penny, Tir an Oir (by Tehran), produced 1958 Californian Stakes winner Seaneen (by Royal Charger), 1963 New Orleans Handicap winner Endymion (by Eudaemon) and stakes winner Golden Circlet (by Round Table).
Penicuik II was produced from Pennycomequick (by Hurry On), winner of the 1929 Oaks Stakes and a half sister to 1951 Kentucky Broodmare of the Year Alpenstock III (by Apelle), 1931 Coronation Stakes winner Sunny Devon (by Solario), stakes winner Pink Flower (by Oleander) and Picture (by Gainsborough), whose stakes-winning daughter Instantaneous (by Hurry On) is the dam of the high-class runner and sire Court Martial. Pennycomequick and her siblings are out of the speedy stakes winner Plymstock, a daughter of five-time English champion sire Polymelus and 1910 One Thousand Guineas winner Winkipop (by William the Third).
Books and media
Pensive is profiled in Chapter 7 of Avalyn Hunter's American Classic Pedigrees 1914-2002 (2003, Eclipse Press).
Fun facts
Photo credit
Photographer unknown. From the private collection of Dale Wyatt; used by permission.
Last updated: December 15, 2022
Race record
22 starts, 7 wins, 5 seconds, 4 thirds, US$167,715
1943:
- 3rd Champagne Stakes (USA, 8FD, Belmont)
- 3rd Oden Bowie Stakes (USA, 6FD, Pimlico)
1944:
- Won Kentucky Derby (USA, 10FD, Churchill Downs)
- Won Preakness Stakes (USA, 9.5FD, Pimlico)
- Won Rowe Memorial Handicap (USA, 6FD, Bowie)
- 2nd Belmont Stakes (USA, 12FD, Belmont)
- 2nd Chesapeake Stakes (USA, 8.5FD, Havre de Grace)
- 2nd Bowie Handicap (USA, 8f+70yD, Bowie)
- 3rd Classic Stakes (USA, 10FD, Arlington Park)
Assessments
Ranked second among American 3-year-old males of 1944 by The Blood-Horse.
As an individual
A chestnut horse, Pensive was often described as looking like a slightly larger version of his sire, with a muscular body and slightly short legs for his height. He did not have the best of feet. He did his best running from off the pace and was described as being “resolute” when set down for a drive. He was retired in the fall of 1944 due to tendon problems, which may have begun when he rapped an ankle while winning the Preakness Stakes.
As a stallion
Jockey Club records credit Pensive with 41 winners (77.4%) and six stakes winners (11.3%) from 53 named foals sired during his brief stud career.
Notable progeny
Ponder (USA), Theory (USA)
Connections
Foaled in Kentucky, Pensive was bred and owned by Calumet Farm and was trained by Ben Jones. He was ridden to his Derby and Preakness wins by Conn McCreary. He stood at Calumet until his death from a twisted intestine in May 1958 and was buried in the farm's equine cemetery.
Pedigree notes
Pensive is inbred 5x5 to two-time Australian champion sire Trenton and to Loved One, sire of the important broodmares Gondolette and Doris. He is a half brother to Altair (by Chance Play), dam of 1959 Chesapeake Stakes and 1960 Jamaica Handicap winner Rare Rice (by Olympia), and to Newbattle (by Château Bouscaut), dam of multiple stakes winner Little Rollo (by Count Gallahad) and second dam of 1958 Prince of Wales Stakes winner White Apache.
Pensive's dam Penicuik II was a non-winner but was a half sister to the high-class and durable gelding High Stakes (by Hyperion) and to stakes winner Golden Penny (by Hyperion), whose stakes-winning daughter Banri an Oir (by Royal Charger) produced 1960 Hollywood Oaks winner Paris Pike (by Tulyar), 1960 Del Mar Debutante Stakes winner Amri-An (by Ambiorix), 1966 San Marino Handicap winner Pelegrin (by Ambiorix) and 1969 Century Handicap winner Pinjara (by Ambiorix). Another daughter of Golden Penny, Tir an Oir (by Tehran), produced 1958 Californian Stakes winner Seaneen (by Royal Charger), 1963 New Orleans Handicap winner Endymion (by Eudaemon) and stakes winner Golden Circlet (by Round Table).
Penicuik II was produced from Pennycomequick (by Hurry On), winner of the 1929 Oaks Stakes and a half sister to 1951 Kentucky Broodmare of the Year Alpenstock III (by Apelle), 1931 Coronation Stakes winner Sunny Devon (by Solario), stakes winner Pink Flower (by Oleander) and Picture (by Gainsborough), whose stakes-winning daughter Instantaneous (by Hurry On) is the dam of the high-class runner and sire Court Martial. Pennycomequick and her siblings are out of the speedy stakes winner Plymstock, a daughter of five-time English champion sire Polymelus and 1910 One Thousand Guineas winner Winkipop (by William the Third).
Books and media
Pensive is profiled in Chapter 7 of Avalyn Hunter's American Classic Pedigrees 1914-2002 (2003, Eclipse Press).
Fun facts
- Pensive was the second of a record eight homebred Kentucky Derby winners for Calumet Farm. The others were Whirlaway (1941), Citation (1948), Ponder (1949), Hill Gail (1952), Iron Liege (1957), Tim Tam (1958) and Forward Pass (1968). The first five of this group were officially trained by Ben Jones, who had previously trained 1938 winner Lawrin. (Jones' six Kentucky Derby wins gave him the Derby record for the most wins by a single trainer, a record tied in 2020 when Bob Baffert scored his sixth Derby win with Authentic. Baffert appeared to have scored a record-breaking seventh Derby win when Medina Spirit crossed the line first in 2021, but the victory was taken away via disqualification after the colt tested positive for the corticosteroid betamethasone.) Calumet later bred 1991 Kentucky Derby winner Strike the Gold and 2022 winner Rich Strike, but these colts raced for other owners.
- Pensive was also the second of a record eight Preakness Stakes winners for Calumet. The others were Whirlaway (1941), Faultless (1947), Citation (1948), Fabius (1956), Tim Tam (1958), Forward Pass (1968) and Oxbow (2013). The first seven were bred by Calumet as well.
- Although Pensive was officially bred by Calumet, his dam Penicuik II was actually owned by Arthur B. Hancock of Claiborne Farm at the time of his conception. Hancock had purchased three mares in a package deal from William Astor, 3rd Viscount Astor, who threw in a season to Hyperion that he had obtained from the 17th Earl of Derby to sweeten the deal, and Hancock directed that Penicuik II be serviced by Hyperion before the mares were shipped to the United States. After the mare arrived, Warren Wright, Sr., took a liking to Penicuik II and purchased her for the Calumet broodmare band late in 1940.
- Pensive's Kentucky Derby victory made his sire Hyperion the second stallion to sire both a Derby Stakes winner and a Kentucky Derby winner, as he had sired the 1941 Derby Stakes winner, Owen Tudor. (For good measure, Hyperion also begot 1941 Irish Derby winner Sol Oriens, but the Irish Derby was much less important in the 1940s than it became later.) The first stallion to accomplish the double was Blenheim II, who sired 1936 Derby Stakes winner Mahmoud and 1941 Kentucky Derby winner Whirlaway. Since then, the feat has been accomplished by Hail to Reason, sire of 1967 Kentucky Derby winner Proud Clarion and 1972 Derby Stakes (ENG-G1) winner Roberto, and by Nijinsky II, sire of 1986 Kentucky Derby winner Ferdinand and Derby Stakes winners Golden Fleece (1982), Shahrastani (1986) and Lammtarra (1992).
- Pensive was the first Kentucky Derby/Preakness Stakes winner to start in the Belmont Stakes but lose the Triple Crown.
- Pensive is one of six colts who won two of the three American Triple Crown races but failed to win the 3-year-old championship in year-end voting. The others are Johnstown (1939), Shut Out (1942), Kauai King (1966), Riva Ridge (1972) and Tabasco Cat (1994).
- Pensive is the first horse in a three-generation sequence of Kentucky Derby winners continuing with his son Ponder (1949) and Ponder's son Needles (1956). The only other three-generation sequence of Kentucky Derby winners is that of 1928 victor Reigh Count, sire of Count Fleet (1943), who in turn sired Count Turf (1951).
- Pensive is also part of a six-generation sequence of horses that won races considered Classics in major racing nations. This sequence runs as follows: Bayardo (1909 St. Leger Stakes), Gainsborough (1918 English Triple Crown), Hyperion (1933 Derby Stakes and St. Leger Stakes), Pensive (1944 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes), Ponder (1949 Kentucky Derby), and Needles (1956 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes).
- Pensive's Derby may have had the widest viewership of any Kentucky Derby up to that time as it was filmed in color for distribution for showings to American military personnel serving all over the globe during World War II.
Photo credit
Photographer unknown. From the private collection of Dale Wyatt; used by permission.
Last updated: December 15, 2022