Pensive was a bright chestnut thoroughbred racehorse that in
1944 came closer than any other horse at the time to winning the U.S. Triple
Crown. He was also the first to win the first two legs and then lose the third.
A son of England's Hyperion, out of Penicuik II, Pensive, ridden by Conn
McCreary, won the Kentucky Derby going away by four and a half lengths. A week
later, he took the Preakness. That year, the Belmont, had upped its purse to
$50,000. Pensive was in the lead when bounding Home inched by to take the race
by less than half a length. Pensive was brought to the United States still
forming in his mother's womb by Arthur B. Hancock, who then sold the mare to
the owner of Calumet Farm, Warren Wright.
Wright had inherited Calumet from his father, William Monroe
Wright, president of the Calumet Baking Powder Company. In time, Warren Wright
was also president of the baking powder company, and he took it to the
financial heights of the business world. When he also took over Calumet in
1931, he sold off the trotters his father favored and began buying
Thoroughbreds for flat racing. Under Wright, Calumet enjoyed years of racing
dominance. Pensive began his training under Calumet's future Hall of Fame
trainer Ben A. Jones. At two, Pensive raced five times, winning twice.
His three losses all came in stakes races. At three, he ran a
checkered season, winning and losing fairly equally. He beat older horses in
the Rowe Memorial Handicap, but lost to an older horse, Tola Rose, in the Bowie
Handicap. Tola Rose had defeated Whirl away. Following his loss in the Belmont,
Pensive lost all eight of his final starts. At this point he was retired to
stud, producing the winner of the 1949 Kentucky Derby, Ponder. He died in 1949,
just after his son won the Derby. Pensive is buried at Calumet Farm.
