Pink Star (foaled 1904 in

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse and was the winner of the 1907

Kentucky Derby The Kentucky Derby is a horse race held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, almost always on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The competition is a Grade I stakes race for three-year ...

. He was a grandson of 1883 Kentucky Derby winner

Leonatus Leonatus (foaled in 1880 in Kentucky, died 1898 in Kentucky) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 1883 Kentucky Derby. Background Leonatus was the son of Uncle John Harper's great racer and sire Longfellow, himself a son of th ...

and his sire, Pink Coat, was an

American Derby The American Derby is a Thoroughbred horse race in the United States run annually at Arlington Park in Arlington Heights, Illinois. The inaugural American Derby was held at Chicago's old Washington Park Race Track on the city's South Side and rac ...

winner.Jim Bolus, ''Run for the Roses: 100 Years at the Kentucky Derby'', Hawthorn Books, Inc., 1974. Pink Star won the Kentucky Derby by two lengths over Zal on a very wet track, with the mud being a

fetlock Fetlock is the common name in horses, large animals, and sometimes dogs for the metacarpophalangeal and metatarsophalangeal joints (MCPJ and MTPJ). Although it somewhat resembles the human ankle in appearance, the joint is homologous to the ba ...

deep in some places. Ridden by

Andy Minder Andrew Minder (c.1860 – May 5, 1943) was an American jockey. He rode the winning horse Pink Star in the 1907 Kentucky Derby for trainer William Fizer. A native of Brooklyn, New York City, New York, Minder became a jockey at 16 and rode for twen ...

, his win was a long shot victory and Pink Star was described by contemporary sources as a lumbering and ugly mount. Pink Star finished in last place for the 1907

Latonia Derby The Latonia Derby was an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually from 1883 through 1937 at Latonia Race Track in Latonia, Kentucky. Open to three-year-old horses, for its first 52 years the Latonia Derby was contested at a mile and a half t ...

, developing a fever and respiratory infection shortly after the running that permanently impacted his breathing. By May 1908, Pink Star had been

gelded A gelding is a castrated male horse or other equine, such as a pony, donkey or a mule. Castration, as well as the elimination of hormonally driven behavior associated with a stallion, allows a male equine to be calmer and better-behaved, making th ...

and retired from racing due to poor performance and having a bad temperament. He lived the remainder of his life as a plow horse at the farm of J. Hal Woodford in Louisville, Kentucky. He was noted to be dead by 1914.

Pedigree

References

1904 racehorse births Racehorses bred in Kentucky Racehorses trained in the United States Kentucky Derby winners Thoroughbred family A3 {{racehorse-stub