Sunday Silence

Sunday Silence (Halo - Wishing Well) had an impressive race record: he never placed lower than second in the 14 starts of his career. However, he is best remembered for his rivalry with 2 year old champion, Easy Goer. The two spent much of their second season battling for the lead.

Sunday Silence lost his first race a a 2 year old. After his initial loss, he won a maiden race then finished second to the highly regarded Houston in an allowance race. His juvenile record was 3 starts, one first, and two seconds, but, he was not the big star, yet.

When the 1989 Triple Crown season began, few people had even heard of Sunday Silence. He had risen to stardom in California, and he won an allowance race and the San Felipe Handicap (Gr.2). Before dusting the field in the Santa Anita Derby, winning this Derby, too.

But the great day arrived, the 115th edition of the Kentucky Derby (Gr.1) in Churchill Downs. With 15 horses in the stalls, Sunday Silence won the race ridden by Pat Valenzuela. He was the best horse in the race. Easy Goer hated the track and it was a testament to his greatness that he even finished second, barely nosing out his less-heralded stablemate Awe Inspiring. This was undoubtedly Easy's worst performance ever.

In the Preakness Stakes (Gr.1), Pimlico, the history was repeated. Easy Goer sweeps to the lead around the turn, only to have Sunday Silence catch him on the outside, pinning him against the rail. Some day Pat Day's ride cost Easy Goer the race. However you look at it, this race was one of the best head to head confrontations ever, with Sunday Silence prevailing by the length of his black nose. Some people thought that Easy Goer got the worst of it in the dual, trapped between Sunday Silence and the rail and not able to achieve the same incredible acceleration he had when racing on the outside. Pat Day even turned Easy's head toward Sunday Silence, costing him momentum and probably the race.In any case, Sunday Silence won the race by a nose, and a nose is always a decisive victory.

In the Belmont Stakes (Gr.1), New York, Easy Goer left Sunday Silence on the turn and rolls to victory in a time only second to the unconquerable Secretariat. This may have been Easy Goer's only victory in the rivalry, winning the race by eight legths.

Sunday Silence only raced two more races between the Belmont and the Breeders' Cup. He finished second in the Swaps Stakes (Gr.1), won by Prized, and then he won the Super Derby (Gr.1) by six legths in a nice performance.

The Breeders' Cup Classic (Gr.1) was the most eagerly anticipated race of the year and some were calling it the race of the decade. Sunday Silence had bettered his rival Easy Goer two times to one, but the 3,000,000 Breeders' Cup Classic would be a winner take all.

Horse of the Year and 3 year old championship honors were on the line as the dynamic duo and six others went to the post. Easy Goer, on the strength of an eigth romp in the Belmont Stakes to deny Sunday Silence the Triple Crown, along with four more consecutive Grade 1 triumphs, was made the 1-2 favorite. Sunday Silence, the 2-1 second choice, grabbed the lead in mid stretch and held a four length lead to Easy Goer. In the final furlong, Sunday Silence's seemingly comfortable lead diminished with each stride, but at the wire, the Charlie Wittingham-trained son of Halo held on to win by a neck.

Sunday Silence was named 1.989 Horse of the Year and Champion Three Year Old Colt.

Curiously, Sunday Silence and Easy Goer had abbreviated seasons as 4 year old, retiring with injuries within just a few weeks of each other. They were supposed to have met in a special race at Arlington Park, but that race went on without them with little fanfare.

Sunday Silence won his comeback race at Hollywood Park, in the Californian (Gr.2) and then lost too Criminal Type in the Hollywood Gold Cup (Gr.1), and he never raced again.

He is considered the 31 in the Top Race Horses of the 20th Century and was inducted into the National Museum of Horse Racing's Hall of Fame in 1996.

He stood stud at the Shadai Stallion Station in Japan and was Japan's Champion sire from 1995 up to 2003.

Foaled in Kentucky, Sunday Silence never competed at a Pacific Rim racetrack, but his influence on the sport in this island nation has been profound. The abundance of memorabilia in the Northern Horse Park gift shop is a tribute to his celebrity as a stallion.

Ironically, Sunday Silence did not end up in Japan by some grand design. Instead, the move followed a cool reception from American breeders, who were more enamored with the stud prospects of Sunday Silence's biggest rival, Easy Goer. In head to head competition, Sunday Silence led the handsome chestnut colt by a score of 3-1 when they both retired in 1990. The son of Halo had victories in the Kentucky Derby (Gr.1), Preakness Stakes (Gr.1) and Breeders' Cup Classic (Gr.1) under his girth, and his hardware included 1989 Eclipse Awards as champion 3 year old male and Horse of the Year.

But Easy Goer, and Alydar offspring, had the more fashionable sire line, along with a championship of his own and a Belmont Stakes (Gr.1) win. He also was more imposing physically, with a muscular frame that made Sunday Silence lence's body look small and somewhat delicate comparison.

Arthur Hancock, who had campaigned Sunday Silence in partnership after raising him at Storm Farm, wanted to syndicate his star for Usd 250,000 a share, for a total value of Usd 10,000,000. However, there were few takers.

Fortunately, one of Hancock's partners in Sunday Silence was very enthusiastic about the colt's potential as a sire. Earlier in 1990, Yoshida had paid Usd 2,500,000 for a one-quarter interest in Sunday Silence. Yoshida proposed to buy the champion outright and move him to Japan. Including Yoshida's earlier investment, the total purchase offer approached Usd 11,000,000.

It also turned out to be a good deal for Yoshida. He immediately syndicated Sunday Silence in Japan for the equivalent to Usd 18,000,000, with 60 shares going for Usd 300,000 a piece.

Sunday Silence's career as a sire started off with a bang. On the stregth of his first crop to race, he was Japan's top juvenile sire in 1994. A year later, he led all stallions, with progeny earnings of around Usd 25,000,000.

Since then, Sunday Silence has sired numerous winners of Japanese classics and other major contests, as well as champions of all ages. In 1999, one of his sons, Special Week, stormed from off the pace to capture the country's most important international race, The Japan Cup (Gr.1).

Sunday Silence had a stud fee around Usd 250,000. He died the 19 of August of 2002 in the Shadai Clinic due to a laminitis when the Champion was 16 years old.

Sunday Silence continued rewriting the Japanese record book as a stallion, came through with his 100th stakes winner. On Nov. 29, 2003, two of his sons, Cheers Brightly and Mystic Age, won stakes at Kyoto. Cheers Brightly, a 5-year-old, captured the Keihan Hai (Gr.3), and 2-year-old Mystic Age took the Kyoto Nisau Stakes.

Sunday Silence's accomplishment proved historic in that the son of Halo became only the third Kentucky Derby (Gr.1) winner to reach that goal. He joined Northern Dancer and Seattle Slew, both of whom stood in North America.

Sunday Silence's dominance on the Japanese lists started when his first runners were 3-year-olds in 1995. Since then, he has topped the list every year. He has headed the 2-year-old list every year except 1996, when he was third.

The end of 2003 supplied a bit of drama when Sunday Silence picked up his 30th stakes winner of the year and the 101st of his career. Cheers Message won the stakes, named the 2003 Final Stakes, on Dec. 28.

The Usd 77,852,691 in progeny earnings at 2003 for Sunday Silence raised his career total to Usd 420 million.

 
New Bloodhorse 28 December 2004

Sunday Silence, who rewrote the record books when it came to progeny earnings, topped the Japanese sires lists once again and in the process reached the Usd 500-million mark in career progeny earnings. That's right, a half-billion dollars that his offspring have earned since 1994.

Sunday Silence bettered his 2003 mark of Usd 77 million with 2004 progeny earnings of Usd 86,154,692, topping the list for the 10th consecutive year. He also led the sires of 2-year-olds list, with Usd 7,425,490.

Trailing Sunday Silence on the general sires list was his son, Dance in the Dark, who checked in with Usd 24,450,288. Closest to him on the 2-year-old list was French Deputy, with Usd 3,109,212. It was French Deputy's first crop of Japanese runners. French Deputy previously stood in the U.S.

Sunday Silence's big horse of 2004 was Zenno Rob Roy, who closed out the season with a victory in the Dec. 26 Arima Memorial (Gr.1) a month after winning the Japan Cup (Gr.1). Silence Silence was represented by 37 stakes winners in 2004.

Sunday Silence 1986	Halo	Hail to Reason	Turn-to
			Nothirdchance
		Cosmah	Cosmic Bomb
			Almahmoud
	Wishing Well	Understanding	Promised Land
			Pretty Ways
		Mountain Flower	Montparnasse
			Edelweiss