Pleasantly Perfect scoring the 2003 Pacific Classic. (Benoit Photo)
By Maribeth Kalinich
Under Hall of Fame Jerry Bailey, Diamond A Racing Corporation’s Pleasantly Perfect won the 2004 Pacific Classic after rallying and then battling down the stretch against Total Impact (CHI) and Perfect Drift besting the latter by a game length.
He followed up with a third-place finish in the 2004 Breeders’ Cup Classic to Ghostzapper at Lone Star Park after having won the 2003 edition of the race at Santa Anita.
The Richard Mandella trainee earned a Beyer’s of 116 on Oct. 6, 2022, in the Grade 2, Goodwood Breeder’s Cup Handicap and a career high of 119 in his 2023 Classic victory.
With 18 career starts, Pleasantly Perfect earned nine victories including a repeat I 2023 in the Goodwood, the Grade 2, San Antonio Handicap and his biggest achievement in the Grade 1, Dubai World Cup. He also accumulated three seconds and two third place finishes.
The son of double Spring Classic winner Pleasant Colony retired as the fourth-richest American horse with $7,789,880 in career earnings.
Out of Regal State, he was the grandson of the great 1978 Triple Crown champ Affirmed.
Pleasantly Perfect sired 20 black-type winners and 23 stakes-placed performers out of 13 crops of racing age. He had seven graded stakes winners, led by grade 1 winners Whitmore and Shared Account.
Whitmore, campaigned by Robert LaPenta, Southern Springs Stables, and Head of Plains Partners, had 43 starts and became a fan favorite in the barn of Ron Moquett.
He won 15 of his starts with 13 seconds and five third place finishes. Beginning in 2017 Whitmore added to his resume four consecutive Hot Springs Stakes and two consecutive Grade 3, Count Fleet Sprints which he also won in 2020.
Whitmore also won the Grade 3, Maryland Sprint at Pimlico and the Grade 2, Ogden Phoenix and the Grade 1, Forego. In addition, he won the 2020 Grade 1, Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Keeneland.
The Pleasant Perfect gelding was also 2020 Eclipse Champion Male Sprinter.
Continuing to hit the board second and third at age eight, Whitmore was retired with Bill Mott August 28, 2021, after incurring a minor leg injury during the running of the Forego. He had accumulated $4,502,350 in career earnings.
Trained by Graham Motion and owned by Sagamore Farm’s Kevin Plank, Shared Account’s best performance was her victory in the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf under Hall of Famer Edgar Prado. She also won the Grade 3, All Along and was second in the Grade 1, Diana that year.
In her 3-year-old year, Shared Account won the Grade 2, Lake Placid and placed second in the Queen Elizabeth, the Grade 1s, Challenge Cup and Garden City Stakes and Grade 3, Virginia Oaks.
Shared Account retired as a broodmare to Sagamore after suffering an injury in a paddock mishap at Fair Hill in the wake of her 3-year-old season. Her foals include a 2014 Distorted Humor filly, Riley’s Choice, a 2015 Street Cry filly, I’m Pretty Strong, and a 2017 Speightstown filly.
In foal to Mastery, Shared Account brought $550,000 at the 2018 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale purchased by Sam-Son Farm. In October of 2020, Sam-Son dispersed its racing and breeding stock and in November Shared Account was purchased for $625,000 by Gainesway Farm in foal to Speightstown at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Mixed Sale.
Going to stand in Turkey in 2014, Pleasantly Perfect continued to sire top runners. His 4-year-old son King of the Sun won the Anafartalar Stakes, which is a listed stakes internationally but considered a group 1 stakes in Turkey. Pleasantly Perfect also sired 3-year-old colt Secret Lover with wins in listed stakes also considered group 1 stakes in Turkey.
One of Perfectly Pleasant’s last offspring on the track was Perfect Come Back. Foaled in Kentucky, he had his last start at Turf Paradise on March 18, 2024, for trainer Edward Kereluk with Kevin Radke aboard.
The bay gelding made his first start Nov. 29th … of 2016 … at Golden Gate Fields, for trainer Tim McCanna with Rocco Bowen up.
The now 10-year-old broke his maiden Jan. 28, 2017, at Golden Gate with Frank Alvarado in the irons. That was the third of his 62 career starts.
In May 2017, Perfect Come Back placed fourth in the Alcatraz at Golden Gate earning Black Type. He then finished a flat tenth in the Rainbow Stakes at Santa Anita in June. He followed up a month later with a fourth again in the Seattle Slew at Emerald Downs.
His best finish in a stakes was at Grants Pass winning the Grands Pass Mile Nov. 9, 2021, just after scoring second in the Chuck Potter Memorial Oct. 18.
To his credit, Perfect Come Back has 12 wins, one of which came in 2024. He also has hit the board 12 time second and eight times third with earning just under $200,000.
Purchased at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale in 2015 for $9,500, he has more than earned his keep.
Pleasantly Perfect died June 3, 2020, in Turkey at the age of 22 following a brief illness, according to Levent Sarikaya, who purchased the horse in 2014 for stud duty at the Turkish National Stud.
