Colonel Liam, two-time Pegasus Turf winner, retired

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Colonel Liam, whose victories in the last two runnings of the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Turf at Gulfstream Park were the highlights of an outstanding career, has been retired.

Trainer Todd Pletcher had been trying to get Colonel Liam to a third straight running of the $1 million Pegasus Turf, which is set for next Saturday, but “he came up with a little ankle issue, and the timing was such that now was the right time to retire him. He’s been a tremendous horse for us, just a beautiful horse. Hopefully everything goes well for him at stud.”

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Owned by Robert and Lawana Low of Arkansas, Colonel Liam won seven of 12 career starts and $1,812,565. His biggest scores came in the 2021 Pegasus Turf, which he won by a neck over his Pletcher-trained stablemate, Largent, and the 2022 Pegasus Turf, which he won by a length over another Pletcher trainee, Never Surprised.

Colonel Liam, a Kentucky-bred by Liam’s Map, also won three other stakes, all on turf. Those were the Tropical Derby at Gulfstream in December 2020; the Grade 2 Mervin Muniz at Fair Grounds in March 2021; and the Grade 1 Turf Classic at Churchill Downs on the 2021 Kentucky Derby undercard in a dead-heat with Domestic Spending.

Colonel Liam had raced just twice since winning the Pegasus Turf last January, finishing ninth in the $5 million Dubai Turf in March and sixth in the Grade 2 Fort Lauderdale here Dec. 31.

Irad Ortiz Jr., who rode Colonel Liam in the Pegasus Turf the last two years, was scheduled to ride him again this year. Ortiz’s agent, Steve Rushing, said early Thursday he had yet to confirm a backup.

The defection of Colonel Liam allows Good Governance, the first alternate, a spot in a capacity field of 12 older horses in the 1 1/8-mile Pegasus Turf.

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