Colonial Affair, 1993 Belmont winner, dies in Argentina

Belmont Stakes winner Colonial Affair, who helped jockey Julie Krone make history in the classic, died in his stall the morning of April 23 at Haras El Paraiso in Capitan Sarmiento, Argentina, where he had stood for the last decade. The Pleasant Colony horse was 23.

Colonial Affair, trained by Scotty Schulhofer for Centennial Farm, won the Belmont Stakes in 1993 with future Hall of Fame jockey Krone aboard, making her the first female rider to win a Triple Crown event. He recorded three other graded stakes placings as a 3-year-old that season, including a runner-up effort against older horses in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup.

Colonial Affair went on to a successful season in the handicap ranks in 1994, scoring Grade 1 victories in the Jockey Club Gold Cup and Whitney Handicap and also winning the Grade 2 Excelsior Handicap. However, an injury sustained prior to the Breeders' Cup Classic prevented him from contesting that year's running at Churchill Downs. He retired with seven wins from 20 career starts for earnings of $1,635,228.[bc_video_id:235277:]

Retired to Gainesway Farm in Lexington, Ky. in 1995, Colonial Affair also stood at Arrow Stud on the island of Hokkaido, Japan, before he was purchased by Haras El Paraiso and John Berendt of New York in 2003.

From 15 crops of racing age—including current juveniles—Colonial Affair sired 323 winners, including 21 stakes winners, for earnings of $18,960,942. His leading runners include Cafrune and Conocedor, both Group 1 winners in Argentina; Grade 2 winner Ubiquity; and Grade or Group 3 winners Bonus Pack, Lakenheath, Boston Party, and Nino Colonial.

Out of the Nijinsky II mare Snuggle, Colonial Affair was bred in Virginia by Herman Greenberg's Rutledge Farm, who sold him to Centennial Farm as a yearling for $100,000 at the 1991 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga select sale.