Indian breeders seem to have gone off grey stallions even though one of the greatest sires in Indian Thoroughbred history was a horse of that colour, namely Grey Gaston. In the past decade, the only grey stallion import into this country has been the Nanoli resident, Imtiyaz, whose first foals are yearlings of 2008. Now an interesting newcomer with the uncommon hue has arrived – and he was a champion on the track. Accompanying him was a million dollar-earning grandson of Storm Cat.

PINSON (Grey 2002 by Halling-Tadorne, by Inchinor) arrived recently to join the stallion roster at the Nakul Stud Dairy & Agricultural Farm at Kaderpur, Dist. Gurgaon, Haryana, on the outskirts of New Delhi.

Bred in Ireland by Baron Guy de Rothschild, the representative of the Sharpen Up male line was retained for racing and sent to Jean-Claude Rouget in France. Unraced at 2, the grey showed progressive form at 3, running a promising second on his debut at Longchamp in March, finishing on from far behind despite encountering very soft ground.

	Top : PINSON (Grey 2002 by Halling-Tadorne, by Inchinor) Bottom : WEST VIRGINIA (Bay 2001 by Tomorrow`s Cat-Wild And Wonderful, by Kennedy Road)

He then ran up a sequence of 4 consecutive victories in France. A maiden win under Ioritz Mendizabal over 1600 m. at Maisons-Laffitte in May was followed by a comfortable win in a 1700 m. conditions event at Longchamp the following month with the same rider aboard. Upped to Group Race company next time out, the Rothschild standard-bearer annexed the 1800 m. Prix Daphnis, Gr.3, at the end of June, displaying a brilliant turn of foot and prevailing with a run up the inside after having been last in the early part of the race.

On this occasion Stephen Pasquier steered the colt and he retained the mount when he was next seen out, which was at Deauville in August, where the pair squared off against five rivals in the 2000 m. Prix Guillaume d`Ornano, Gr.2. The result was the same – a triumph and this time by the astounding margin, for a Group race, of 6 lengths!

That was the end of his French career – he did not seem to care for England too much, running second in the 8 fur. Countrywide Steel And Tubes Joel Stakes, Gr.3, from just 3 starts in that country. That effort came at 4 in the colours of Godolphin, to whom he had been transferred in October of his three-year-old season.

Amongst the horses he beat were globetrotter Doctor Dino as well as Norse Dancer, Iceman, Rob Roy, Echo Of Light, Touch Of Land, Ruwi and Babodana.

In all, Pinson won 4 races with total earnings of £ 114,307. In the World Thoroughbred Rankings for 2005, he was rated 118, the highest for a French-trained three-year-old colt in the 1900m.-2200m. category, and the second highest of all French-trained three-year-old colts – behind only Hurricane Run!

Racing Post ranked him at 120 – he shared that mark with the previous year`s Epsom Derby winner, North Light, and that year`s leading 3-y-o filly in France, Divine Proportions, while Timeform had him at 119 in Racehorses of 2005.

Pinson`s sire, Halling, has been quite successful, chiefly with his colts, and has 31 Pattern Race victories to his name. Pinson`s dam, Tadorne, was a stakes-placed half-sister to three Listed winners, Ximb, Welcome Millennium and Verba. The family traces through Bipearl to Pearl Maiden.

WEST VIRGINIA (Bay 2001 by Tomorrow`s Cat-Wild And Wonderful, by Kennedy Road) accompanied Pinson on the flight and he too will stand the 2010 season at the Nakul Stud Dairy & Agricultural Farm

The strapping bay was bred in New York State by Donald & Mary Zuckerman, who retained him for racing and sent him to champion trainer Todd Pletcher. West Virginia turned out to be a precocious customer, needing just one start at 2 – at which he was bumped at the start – to figure out the racing game. He then won a mile Belmont maiden in October and progressed successfully to stakes company by taking the 6 fur. Great White Way Stakes at Aqueduct the following month.

Remaining in New York, he showed his inherent class when third to Read The Footnotes in the Gr.2 Remsen Stakes, and concluded his 2-y-o season on a high note when wheeling back on the same track in December to take the 8.5 fur. Damon Runyon Stakes.

At 3, he won the 8 fur. Times Square Stakes, again at Aqueduct, in April and showed his love for Saratoga in August, scoring in the 9 fur. Albany Stakes after narrowly missing (by a neck, while conceding 4 lbs.) in the 9 fur. New York Stallion Cab Calloway Stakes on that track. The head of the year-older Spite The Devil deprived him of the opportunity of winning the 9 fur. Empire Classic, the richest race of the year for New York-breds, at Belmont Park in October. That concluded his three-year-old career.

In 2005, he won the 9 fur. Gr.3 Philip H. Iselin Breeders` Cup Handicap at Monmouth Park in August, having run a game second in a roughly run edition of the Evan Shipman Handicap at Belmont Park at his previous start in July. Later that year, he twice went down fighting in a photo finish at his happy hunting ground of Aqueduct when runner-up by a neck in the 9 fur. Gr.3 Stuyvesant Handicap in November and also by a neck in the 9.5 fur. Gr.3 Queens County Handicap in December.

As a five-year-old, West Virginia took on some mighty company. Apart from triumphing in the 9 fur. Gr.3 Excelsior Handicap at Aqueduct in April, where he beat none other than Gr.1 Kentucky Derby/Gr.1 Preakness Stakes hero Funny Cide, he ran third in three consecutive Grade 1 events – to champion Invasor in the Gr.1 Pimlico Special Handicap at Pimlico, to Seek Gold in the Gr.1 Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs and again to Invasor in the Gr.1 Whitney Handicap at Saratoga.

He was then acquired by Sheikh Rashid bin Mohammed`s Zabeel Racing International, for whom he placed in a couple of stakes events prior to relocating to Dubai.

Altogether West Virginia won 7 races and earned US$1,010,938. Amongst those he beat were Funny Cide, Flower Alley, Premium Tap, Cosmonaut, Brass Hat, Artie Schiller and Mustanfar. He earned a BRIS Speed Rating of 112.

West Virginia`s sire, Tomorrow`s Cat, was a more than useful son of Storm Cat, with a Gr.2 win under his belt. Interestingly, in late 2007 the French-based Haras des Chartreux came calling and picked up the charcoal-coloured 12-year-old from Questroyal Stud in upstate New York. West Virginia`s dam, Wild And Wonderful was a winner and has also bred 2009 stakes winner Platinum Girl. The next dam was an Argentinian-bred stakes winner in both her home country and the USA and this is a solid, tough and sound black-type family that has been in South America for over a century – ever since Blair Athol`s daughter Tears was imported there from England in 1882.