Buckland Farm

Buckland Farm, the home of Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Pleasant Colony, has gone on the market for a cool $12.3 million. The Gainesville, Va., property includes 450 acres with a polo field, steeplechase course, a number of fields and barns, staff dwellings, and a four-bedroom manor house.

Buckland was originally a cattle farm established in 1774 but was converted into a Thoroughbred operation by Thomas Mellon Evans in 1964. Evans’ dark blue and white silks were carried to victory by Pleasant Colony as well as Eclipse Award winners Pleasant Tap and Pleasant Stage. Additional stakes winners bred by Evans included Dance Colony, Stage Colony, and Cherokee Colony.

Pleasant Colony was, of course, the most famous, as winner of the 1981 Kentucky Derby and Preakness, as well as the Eclipse Award for champion 3-year-old colt that year. He also won the Grade 1 Woodward before being retired to Buckland, where he sired Pleasant Tap and Pleasant Stage, plus St. Jovite and Pleasantly Perfect.

Evans was also the father of Robert and Edward P. “Ned” Evans, both prominent figures in racing.

The current owner, David Blake, purchased the property in 1999 according to media reports with the intention of breeding Thoroughbreds. Realtor Barry Wright said the farm has had a few descendants of Pleasant Colony over the past few years but that Blake wasn’t actively breeding. Pleasant Colony transferred to Lane’s End and eventually Blue Ridge Farm in Upperville, Va. toward the end of his stud career. Pleasant Colony was buried at Blue Ridge but reinterred at Buckland overlooking the field where his mares once lived.

Wright said Blake became enamored with the farm’s rich history, which included visits by a handful of presidents. Blake worked to get the property under scenic easements and was successful for part but not all of the acreage. Wright said he and his client were hoping the farm would be purchased by someone who would continue to use it for equine or other agricultural purposes, but realistically he expected a developer would buy it in order to build on the portion of land that is not under easement. The main house and about 90 acres are protected from development.

“Hopefully somebody will buy it who wants horses and preserves the character of the area,” said Wright. “But it’s so close to transportation corridors and things like that, that’s why we’re expecting more developers than owners. But you never know—it could be a great equestrian center.”

See the listing here.