His three-year-old campaign was cut short by injury but he was still Horse of the Year based on his three wins including the Belmont Stakes.

Colin was from the third crop of foals by the stakes winner and leading sire Commando (by Domino), who had been bred by James Keene.

Rowe and his horses Miss Woodford, Luke Blackburn, Whisk Broom II, Commando, and Peter Pan were inducted into the Hall of Fame.

James Keene was not initially enthusiastic about Colin, noting his disfiguring curb, or thoroughpin, meaning that the colt had an enlarged hock.

Aware that Colin's swollen hock would give him trouble, Rowe attended to it with massages and cold water baths.

Consistently rated as one of the best horses in American racing history, and a celebrity with both fans and horsemen, Colin started fifteen times in his two-year career and never lost.

Sportswriter Abram Hewitt said, "The blood surges, and the pulses quicken at the very sight of such Olympians on the track."

Colin's last victory came on June 20, 1908 in the Tidal Stakes at Sheepshead Bay, after which he was sent to England to race, but was pulled up lame in a workout and was retired.

Kent Hollingsworth admired Colin's career as a racehorse and observed the horses' potential in his book, The Great Ones.