[1] Sea Pigeon was a dark-brown horse bred by his owner, Jock Whitney at the Greentree Stud in the United States.
Sea Pigeon's dam, Around the Roses, ran second in the Acorn Stakes and went on to produce the American turf champion Bowl Game.
[4] Sea Pigeon won once as a two-year-old in October 1972, when he was ridden to victory by Lester Piggott in the Duke of Edinburgh Stakes at Ascot.
Sea Pigeon was ridden to his Ebor win by his regular hurdles partner Jonjo O'Neill – due to the long ITV strike of that year, only those who were present at York that day saw it.
He missed the early part of the 1977–78 jumps season after being injured in the Colonial Cup but returned in spring to finish runner-up to Monksfield in the Champion Hurdle.
He won a second Scottish Champion Hurdle, taking advantage of the fatal fall of Golden Cygnet at the final flight.
[7] Having contracted a virus, shortly before the 1981 Aintree Festival, Sea Pigeon never recovered fully and ran poorly in two races in the autumn of 1981.
[1] During his retirement Sea Pigeon was housed with trainer Pat Rohan for some time and could often be seen having a stroll round the streets of Norton much to the joy of the locals.
This bond continued until Sea Pigeon was found to have irreparable damage to one of his pedal bones and was put to sleep on Tuesday 20 October 2000.