ARCADIA, Calif. -- It's always a little bittersweet for a jock to see a horse he's done well with go to stud. You know you'll never ride him again and you think of all those times you did and the different trips you got, the ways you worked together to make it to the winner's circle, and it's kind of sad. But then you remember that in a couple of years you'll have the chance to ride new colts and fillies that are hopefully just as talented and maybe more talented than he was -- and that's the exciting part. I was thinking about that the other day when WinStar Farm announced that Colonel John was retired. I rode him in his first start and I rode him in his last start, and we had a lot of successes in between. He's just one of those racehorses that exudes class; he's really laid back and he knows he's the man. You just sit on him and you know he's a good horse. From his conformation to his demeanor and stride, he's just the whole package, he really is. The first time I rode him was at Del Mar. He should have won that day; it was his first time out so no one was quite sure exactly what to do with him yet. I kind of just had to ride the race as it came up. We finished a solid second then, and I knew he'd be a runner. I was riding back in the Midwest and on the East Coast after that race, so that's why I didn't ride him in his next couple of starts. It took me a little while to get him back when I came back to California, but he was the kind of horse I hoped to do well on -- he was big as a 2-year-old and very athletic, and we knew sooner or later it was all going to come together for him. Once he had a race or two in him, he was agile enough, and had enough coordination, to break his maiden and get a stakes win under Corey Nakatani, then he finished second in the CashCall Futurity with Corey. I rode him to a win in the Sham Stakes, which was a Grade 3. So all that time he was running very well on the different synthetic tracks out in California, and even though he finished out of the money in the Kentucky Derby he came back two starts later and gave me an amazing run to win the Travers in 2008. In that race he was standing good and he just kind of hopped a bit at the start. I was in the two hole and I didn't really want to give up my position so I sent him up in there and it didn't take him long to get back into the race and get his legs up underneath him. He always traveled really well, but in that race I never was in a really good spot for a young horse -- we were all fighting for one or two holes that weren't really there and at one point we had three horses where only two should have been. So we kept battling in there and we turned for home. He got banged around a little when we hit the turn and I got jostled around and jumped heels a bit, but I was able to get him out in the clear and then he kicked in and got down to the wire -- the last sixteenth-of-a-mile Colonel John and Mambo In Seattle came down there fighting hard. He ran a really game race that day because it wasn't like a race where everything went his way; he didn't get a really sweet trip. Of course that race was a super-close photo finish but as soon as we hit the wire, Robby Albarado put his hand up in victory. When another jock does that, very seldom is he wrong, so I thought, maybe he did get it. It sort of took the steam out of me but I was like, just let me hang back here and see how it all sorts out, maybe he was wrong. So I took my time on the backside, and while jogging back I had come around the bend and had let him start to gallop and just as I got right in front where I could actually see the tote board, they hung my number up. The Travers has been around so many years and there's a lot of history in that race -- obviously it's a big deal on the East Coast and a very prestigious event -- so I was glad to actually be able to win it with him. It's kind of like the Derby where these horses have only one chance to run in that race, and most of the time it's the best horses of the 3-year-old season that compete in it. Believe me, I enjoyed having those flowers draped around his neck. The rest, as they say, is history. They tried him on the turf and he won on that too. I think that just tells you he's a pure racehorse, because it didn't matter what they ran him on, he ran on all of them. It's really pretty cool. I think he probably could have ended up a Grade I winner on the grass, a miler or something like that, I think he was good enough to accomplish that kind of a win. He just wanted to win. He was a horse who would figure out a way to get in front, whatever it was, and he'd do it fast, too. In the Breeder's Cup Classic I was disappointed because it was one of those trips you only dream of having -- I got around there and we were down on the inside in the first turn and in the middle of the turn I cued him to go after the leader a little bit, and he followed for six or seven jumps but when I opened up on him from behind he wasn't there, I just didn't feel it, and I knew right away, "Oh, I'm in trouble." He still stayed on good enough to wind up running fifth and of course it wasn't one of his best races, but you can't knock him for trying. His other wins prove he had it in him more often than not. He was a great horse to ride and he was really good to me and my family, so like I do with all the good runners I ride, I'll keep an eye on him and wish his connections the best for his new career. He's definitely a horse I'd take a mare to!