Hall of Fame Profile: Colors Bright

Original article written by Dan Kauffman posted 8 years 3 weeks ago

Sometimes, the grass really is greener on the other side. Especially when the side you're on is all dirt.

A change of surface changed Colors Bright from a "run of the mill" Grade 1 winner on dirt, to a Steward's Cup Filly and Mare Turf champion who would win American Champion Turf Female honors and ultimately be enshrined in the SIM Hall of Fame.

Colors Bright was bred by The Steward in Year 14. Her sire was Zinfandel, who was unbeaten in 12 starts, including two wins in million-dollar races, the Haskell Invitational and the Jockey Club Gold Cup. Her dam was Canyon, a winner of five graded stakes races, including two Grade 1 titles, the biggest of which was the Coaching Club American Oaks.

The Steward placed Colors Bright in the 2-year-old auction to start Year 16, and the filly was purchased by Susie Raisher for a meager $11,000 -- a price that would become a massive bargain quickly, as she finished first or second in each of her first nine races.

Colors Bright began her career in a 5-furlong maiden special weight dirt sprint for juvenile fillies at Sunshine Park in Florida. It was an inauspicious start, as she was beaten by Sorrow's River II by more than a length. It was Sorrow River's only victory in 11 starts.

The second outing, four weeks later, went better for Colors Bright. Much, much better. Given two extra furlongs to work with, she obliterated nine challengers and won a maiden special weight race by seven lengths at Miami Race Course. The $12,000 winner's check was all it took to make Raisher's purchase profitable.

Colors Bright moved up to stakes competition and finished second in four straight outings of either 1 mile or 1 1/16 miles:

* In the Grade 2 Kentucky Cup Juvenile for fillies at Dirtway Park, she was beaten by Fleet -- a three-time graded stakes winner -- by less than a length.

* In the Grade 2 Golden Rod Stakes F for fillies at Louisville Downs, she rallied from the back but came up a length short of Starsmelthesilence. It was the winner's only stakes victory.

* At the start of her 3-year-old season in Year 17, she was more than seven lengths behind Loki Empire in the Grade 3 Turfway Breeders' Cup Oaks at Dirtway Park. Loki Empire was a two-time Grade 1 winner and a six-time stakes winner overall.

* In the Grade 3 Davona Dale Stakes at Sunshine Park, she once against was a bridesmaid, this time a length behind Tearfelt Goodbye -- a six-time graded stakes winner who later in Year 17 capped her career with a victory in the Grade 1 Test Stakes.

While bringing home solid paychecks ($186,900 in earnings to this point), Colors Bright was still waiting for a real breakthrough. It would come in Week 7 in her first Grade 1 test, the Mother Goose Stakes at Long Island Park. She held off graded stakes winner Affectionate by two lengths in the 9-furlong outing -- her longest to date -- to more than double her career earnings.

Two weeks later, she returned to the Long Island track for the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks -- by far the longest race of her career to that point at 1 1/2 miles, and the only time she would run that far. Colors Bright ran well but was beaten by 1 1/2 lengths by Quiet Excellence, a three-time Grade 1 stakes winner.

Colors Bright returned to the winner's circle in Week 14, turning the tables on Quiet Excellence with her own 1 1/2-length victory in the Grade 1 Falling Star Stakes over 9 furlongs at Lafayette Downs in Louisiana.

With two Grade 1 wins in hand, Colors Bright had earned the right to compete two weeks later in the $2 million Steward's Cup Distaff, held that year over 9 furlongs at Sunshine Park. She ran well in finishing fourth, trailing champion Farewellinthedark by about a length and a half. It was the final race of Farewellinthedark's career: The five-time Grade 1 winner also won the Louisville Oaks in Year 16. The second- and third-place finishers in the Distaff (Wonder and Laughterintherain) are both Hall of Famers.

Colors Bright began Year 18 with a listed stakes race in Week 5, the Attracting Handicap at Flamingo Park in Florida, covering 10 furlongs. Perhaps hurt by the longer-than-usual rest period, it wound up being the worst race of her career, finishing a distant fourth almost 10 lengths behind Part of My Heart -- a very good horse who finished 8-for-12 with $1 million in earnings and two Grade 1 wins.

Certainly nothing about the Attracting Handicap would have led anyone to believe that Colors Bright was about to embark on the best stretch of her career.

Less than two weeks after that disastrous night, Colors Bright took the Baltimore Race Course track for the Grade 3 Maryland Racing Handicap over 1 1/16 miles. She never gave her five challengers any hope, pulling away to an emphatic 10-length victory.

Less than three weeks later, in the Grade 1, 9-furlong Go for Wand Stakes at The Spa in New York, Colors Bright engaged in a terrific battle with Spoof -- who would finish her career 8-for-13 with five seconds, more than $1.8 million in earnings and two Grade 1 wins -- and prevailed by a head.

Colors Bright had become a consistent, if not dominant, presence on the East Coast filly and mare dirt route circuit. So racing observers were left scratching their heads when the filly was entered next in a 1 1/4-mile turf race -- the Grade 2 Flower Bowl Invitational Handicap at Long Island Park.

Zinfandel ran one turf race in his career -- a Grade 2 victory -- and Canyon never raced on the surface. Grand sire Conduit -- one of the greatest horses in SIM history, with a 17-for-17 record and $8.4 million in earnings -- also only raced once on turf, a win in the Grade 1 Canadian Breeders' Stakes. Dam sire Onwardsilvercharm, like Canyon, never raced on turf. Colors Bright's 4-furlong turf workout of 48.76 seconds earlier in the year didn't give any reason for optimism. All in all, it seemed a baffling decision.

Naturally, she obliterated four challengers to win by almost six lengths, breaking 2 minutes in the process.

And so, with exactly one (quite impressive, it might be said) turf stakes victory secured, Colors Bright traveled to Metropolitan Park in Illinois for the $2 million Steward's Cup Filly and Mare Turf. Challengers included:

* Laughterintherain, a future Hall of Famer entering on a three-race winning streak (all of them Grade 1 outings), who won the Louisville Oaks in Year 17. Remember, she ran third ahead of Colors Bright in the Year 17 SC Distaff. Like Colors Bright, her previous victory was her only previous turf race.

* Bara, a Champion Turf Female award-winner who entered 9-for-14 lifetime with five Grade 1 wins -- including two in a row leading up to the SC -- and just shy of $2 million in earnings.

* Alone in My Dreams, the South American Champion 2 Year Old Filly with five wins (three of them in Grade 1 races) in six career starts.

* Nitakupiga, the defending Filly and Mare Turf champion who entered 8-for-14 lifetime, including two straight Grade 2 wins leading up to the SC.

Coming out of the final turn, Colors Bright kicked into high gear and left them all in her wake, hitting the wire more than three lengths in front of runner-up Laughterintherain to cement her place in history as a Steward's Cup champion. With it came American Champion Turf Female honors for the 4-year-old with all of two turf races under her belt.

Colors Bright once again took a longer-than-usual break before starting her Year 19 campaign in Week 6 with the Grade 1 Vanity Handicap back on the dirt at Inglewood Park in California. And once again her season started on a sour note, as Trap scored her third career Grade 1 victory in a million-dollar career, beating Colors Bright by more than two lengths in the 9-furlong outing.

Three weeks later, Colors Bright was back on the turf for the 9-furlong, Grade 1 Ramona Handicap at Oceanside Racetrack. This time, the switch back to turf did not end well as she finished fourth in the seven-horse field, almost eight lengths behind winner World Traveler, who scored her fifth Grade 1 victory.

Colors Bright headed back to the East Coast -- and back to the dirt -- two weeks later for the Grade 1 Personal Ensign Handicap over 10 furlongs at The Spa. In a four-horse field, Colors Bright finished second, more than two lengths back of Cherish the Moment -- who scored the third Grade 1 victory of her career and would finish with almost $1.7 million in earnings.

Winless in her first three races of Year 19, in Week 11 Colors Bright returned to the surface (turf) and distance (10 furlongs) at which she excelled at the end of the previous year. Making the short trip to Long Island Park, she returned to her dominant form to defend her title in the Flower Bowl Invitational, beating Grade 1 stakes winner Darkest Secret by more than three lengths.

However, instead of attempting to defend her SC Filly and Mare Turf title (which would be won by Year 18 runner-up Laughterintherain), Colors Bright made her only overseas trip to race in the Grade 1 Moonee Valley Oaks at Australia Race Course. She capped her career with a 2 1/2-length victory over My Sunshine -- making only her third start following maiden and NW2 wins in the states -- to finish with a record of 20: 9-8-0 (including four wins in five turf races) and earnings of more than $2.6 million.

Colors Bright gave birth to eight foals, six of whom earned at least $200,000 on the track. But one stood well above them all: Hall of Fame legend Magician, winner of 16 of 19 races across all disciplines, with more than $6.4 million in earnings (32nd all-time). His titles include the Desert World Cup, the Arc de Triomphe and the Steward's Cup Turf -- a very rare trifecta, indeed. His awards including North American Horse of the Year, North American Champion Turf Male, European Horse of the Year, European Champion Older Male and Middle East Champion Older Male. Magician's progeny earned more than $60 million, including 15 millionaires.

---

Back to Hall of Fame articles