Hall of Fame Inductee 2023
Thoroughbred Male Horse
The iconic Pink Lloyd is one of the greatest sprinters in Canadian racing history and the most decorated in Sovereign Award history with eight trophies during his six seasons on the track. The tall and leggy chestnut gelding is also the richest offspring of an Ontario stallion, Old Forester, and richest graduate of the Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society’s longstanding yearling sale at Woodbine.
Pink Lloyd’s story began in 2012 when he was born at John Carey’s T.C. Westmeath Stud in Shelburne, ON. John Carey had bred his stakes placed Great Gladiator mare, Gladiator Queen, to his stallion, Old Forester, and Pink Lloyd was her third foal.
Purchased for just $30,000 from the 2013 CTHS sale by Frank DiGiulio, Jr., Pink Lloyd raced for the Entourage Stable of DiGiulio, Ed Longo, John Peri, John Lucato and Victor Mele. The horse’s name is a reference to both the rock band Pink Floyd and to the character Lloyd from the television series Entourage.
Sent to the Hall of Fame trainer, Robert Tiller, Pink Lloyd needed time to mature and get past niggling, minor physical issues. As a result, it wasn’t until the late summer of his 4-year-old season that he made his career debut. Pink Lloyd won his first three races and signalled to his connections that he was a special horse.
Paired up with jockey Eurico Rosa da Silva, who is also being celebrated s a 2022 Hall of Fame inductee, Pink Lloyd began what would be a magical 2017 season in April, winning his first stakes race in the Jacques Cartier at Woodbine. The fiery and competitive-spirited gelding would win seven more stakes races, including two graded events, earned over $512,000 and completed an unbeaten and magical season. He was named Canada’s Horse of the Year for 2017 and collected his first of five consecutive Champion Sprinter titles.
Pink Lloyd extended his winning streak to 11 stakes wins in 2018 but some gate antics and a bleeding incident led to a couple of losses. He still ended that year with five wins in eight races.
Following his usual winter vacation at Buttigieg Farm north of Toronto, Pink Lloyd came back better than ever in 2019, winning all six of his races (he was declared a non-starter in one race when he broke through the gate). His final race of the season in the Grade 2 Kennedy Road Stakes, was perhaps his most impressive as he came from last place and very wide to win.
Pink Lloyd teamed up with a new rider in 2020, Rafael Hernandez, as Eurico had retired. The pair began the COVID-19 delayed season with a win in the Jacques Carter Stakes, a record fourth win in that event for Pink Lloyd. That summer, the champ carried 128 pounds to win the Bold Venture Stakes and almost broke his own track record for six furlongs (which he set in 2018) when he won his fourth Grade 3 Vigil Stakes in a sizzling 1:08.06.
Pink Lloyd’s final season of racing came as a 9-year-old in 2021, and he once again dominated the local sprinters. His last race was vintage ‘Pinky’ as he extracted himself out of tight traffic, moved wide off the turn for home and powered to victory in the Kennedy Road, incredibly, his 26th stakes victory.
In total, Pink Lloyd, who was groomed by Kris Pion early in his career and then Michelle Gibson, won 29 of 38 starts and earned over $1.8 million.
Pink Lloyd retired to LongRun Thoroughbred Retirement Society in Hillsburgh where he will live out his life as an ambassador for that organization. He continues to have plenty of visitors who are eager to meet one of the greatest Canadian racehorses of all time.