[4] Like the rest of Edward Petre's horses, The Colonel was trained by John Scott, who sent out the winners of 41 classics, from his Whitewall Stables at Malton in North Yorkshire.

At this time, the practical difficulties involved in transporting racehorses meant that few horses from the North of England competed in the major southern courses.

The Colonel's performance and reputation however, had seen him strongly supported in the betting markets since the since his win in the Champagne Stakes,[8] and on the day he was made 7/2 favourite in a field of fifteen runners.

Scott repeated his earlier tactics by holding The Colonel back for a late challenge, but was unable to overtake his rival and the Yorkshire colt was beaten by a neck.

After the chaotic start to the 1827 St Leger the jockeys were warned by the racecourse officials that no misconduct would be tolerated and the race began in a fair and orderly manner.

Despite the apparently decisive nature of the victory, the Sporting Magazine considered the race to be an unsatisfactory one for at least two reasons: the Scotts were criticised for using Velocipede as a pacemaker rather than allowing him to compete on his own merits, and there were strong rumours that Bessy Bedlam had been prevented from showing her best form by some kind of "foul play".

[13] At the end of the 1828 season, The Colonel was bought for £4,000 by King George IV, who had decided to buy the horse after seeing a painting by John Frederick Herring.

The man arrived at four o'clock in the morning and repeatedly demanded to be served with a "pot of ale", only relenting and turning back to Ascot when The Colonel was recognised by one of the other guests.

[18] Before the start of the 1830 season, The Colonel underwent an "actual cautery" on his legs, an operation performed by the King's veterinary surgeon William Goodwin.

[21] In June he ran in his second Ascot Gold Cup and despite starting the 10/1 outsider of the field, he improved on his 1829 effort by finishing second to Sir Mark Wood's filly Lucetta, with Green Mantle third and Zinganee fourth.

[22] A week later, The Colonel appeared at Stockbridge Racecourse in Hampshire where he won a one and a half mile sweepstakes beating Ballad-Singer by a neck after "a beautiful race".

[25] The Colonel ended his season on 15 September when he was allowed to walk over the three mile course to win the Gold Cup at Northampton after the other fourteen entries had been withdrawn.

[28] The Colonel finished the deciding heat in considerable distress and pain as a result of aggravating an existing injury to the ligaments of his right hind leg.

The Colonel's most significant offspring was probably Cap-A-Pie, a colt who was exported to Australia where he became a highly successful stallion, with his descendants including the Melbourne Cup winners The Barb, Chester and Grand Flaneur.