Sunday Silence (March 25, 1986 – August 19, 2002) was an American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In 1989, he won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes but failed to complete the Triple Crown when he was defeated in the Belmont Stakes. Nevertheless, he won the Breeders' Cup Classic and was voted American Champion Three-Year-Old Colt and American Horse of the Year that same year. Sunday Silence's racing career was marked by his rivalry with Easy Goer, over whom he had a three to one edge in their head-to-head races. Easy Goer, the 1988 American Champion Two-Year-Old Colt finished second to Sunday Silence in the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness, and the Breeders' Cup Classic. However, Easy Goer prevailed by eight lengths in the Belmont, denying Sunday Silence the Triple Crown. Both horses were later voted into the American Hall of Fame.
After his retirement from racing, Sunday Silence attracted little support by breeders in the United States and was exported to Japan. He was the leading sire in Japan on thirteen occasions, surpassing the previous record of ten titles by Northern Taste. Although the relatively insular nature of Japanese racing at the time meant that Sunday Silence's success was initially restricted to his home territory, his descendants have in recent years won major races in Australia, France, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, the United States and Dubai. Blood-Horse pedigree expert Anne Peters speculated, "Had Sunday Silence retired in Kentucky, it's almost certain he would have tanked commercially and been exported in disgrace, but he found his perfect gene pool and thrived instead." He would later be the leading broodmare sire in North America in 2016.
In the Blood-Horse magazine List of the Top 100 U.S. Racehorses of the 20th Century, Sunday Silence was ranked #31.
Contents
Early years
Sunday Silence was foaled on March 25, 1986, at Stone Farm in Paris, Kentucky. He was sired by Halo out of Wishing Well by Understanding. Though he was registered as a dark bay/brown, he was in fact a true black.
He was bred by Oak Cliff Thoroughbreds, Ltd. and escaped death twice: first as a weanling when he nearly died from a freak virus; and later at age two, traveling in a van when the driver experienced a heart attack and the van flipped over. He was passed over twice at the sales ring as a yearling before he was sold in California for $50,000 as a two-year-old in training. Arthur B. Hancock III bought him as a "buy-back" (he had bred him), hoping to ship him to Kentucky. However, the van accident kept Sunday Silence in California. Hall of Fame trainer Charlie Whittingham bought a half share of the colt and then sold half of that to Ernest Gaillard. (Ownership designate: H-G-W Partners.)
Ownership
H-G-W Partners (Hancock-Gaillard-Whittingham) represents the names of the three partners who owned the horse. The three partners were:
Arthur B. Hancock III (b. 1943) - 50% partner, who is a horse breeder and the owner of Stone Farm near Paris, Kentucky.
Charlie Whittingham (1913–1999) - 25% partner, who was the horse's Hall of Fame trainer;
Ernest Gaillard (1913–2004) - 25% partner, who was a 1938 graduate of the University of Louisville and active in the organizing of the Kentucky Derby, and a medical doctor with the Eighth Army Air Force during World War II.
Racing record
1988: two-year-old season
Although Sunday Silence showed ability, he didn't make it to the races until late in his two-year-old season, finishing second in a maiden race, then winning a maiden special weight race and finishing second in an allowance race from three starts.
1989: three-year-old season
Sunday Silence began his three-year-old year by winning an allowance race at Santa Anita by four lengths which opened the door of Kentucky Derby potential. His next race was a victory in the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes, and then he won the G1 Santa Anita Derby by eleven lengths to qualify for a start in the Kentucky Derby.
In what became an iconic rivalry, Sunday Silence and Easy Goer would only meet four times, the first of which was the 1989 Kentucky Derby on May 6. In the buildup to the 1989 Triple Crown, the rivalry developed between the West Coast-based Sunday Silence and the East Coast-based Easy Goer, winner of the 1988 Eclipse Award for Champion Two Year Old Colt. Easy Goer was coming in off of a victory in the Wood Memorial and a record breaking performance in the Gotham Stakes. Unknown to the public however, Easy Goer had a small crack in his left front. The favorite was Easy Goer, with Sunday Silence as the 3:1 second choice.
Kentucky Derby day was a cold one at 44°, the coldest in 72 years, with rain creating a slow muddy track. After stalking the pace and making his move around the turn, Sunday Silence and jockey Pat Valenzuela defeated Easy Goer by 2+1⁄2 lengths, in the slowest time (2:05) for a Kentucky Derby since 1958. Sunday Silence ducked in and out sharply throughout the stretch run, with his jockey switching from left and right handed urging trying to keep him running straight. Even with ducking in and out, the champion Easy Goer was unable to make up ground. Daily Racing Form writer Dan Illman stated after Sunday Silence's victory that "the best horse won that afternoon." Daily Racing Form chairman Steve Crist stated his opinion that "Easy Goer had a legitimate explanation for his defeat, as he didn't handle the muddy Churchill track."
While both horses were preparing for the 1+3⁄16-mile Preakness two weeks after the Derby, each had minor ailments. Sunday Silence came up lame after a gallop seven days before the race. Trainer Whittingham contacted well-known Kentucky veterinarian Alex Harthill, who diagnosed a bruise under the sole, a common injury that "wasn't a serious problem but it had happened at a serious time." Harthill had Sunday Silence step on a clean sheet of white paper which was subsequently faxed to Ric Redden of Lexington, Kentucky, and from which Redden prepared a set of aluminum bar shoes. Redden and his assistant then flew via rented jet to Baltimore with the bar shoes and X-ray machine to confirm that no fracture was involved. After the shoes were fitted, Sunday Silence resumed training four days before the race. After his connections saw the colt's "remarkably" rapid recovery from the injury, the bar shoes were removed the day before the race. With all the uncertainty over Sunday Silence's soundness, he would go on to be second choice once again to Easy Goer at 2:1.
1990: four-year-old season
At the age of four, Sunday Silence won the Californian and placed second in the Hollywood Gold Cup behind Criminal Type by a head, while giving away 5 pounds. He suffered an injured ligament that eventually led to his retirement. Out of 14 career races, he had 9 wins (including 6 Grade 1's) and 5 runner-up finishes.
Accomplishments
In 1996, Sunday Silence was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. He was ranked #31 in the Bloodhorse Top 100 Horses of the 20th Century, while Easy Goer ranked #34. Blood-Horse stated that its rankings "will generate debate for years to come." The electoral friction was ultimately reflected in the introduction to the Blood-Horse's "Top 100 Racehorses" book, which said, "For all the work and dreaming that went into it... one approaches the list... with a nagging sense of its folly as a rational exercise and of the maddening arbitrariness of its outcome. However, one views this list of horses, whether in peace and contentment—or shock and dismay—all such judgments, of course, are entirely subjective, a mixture of whim, wisdom, and whatever prejudices howl through the back of the mind."
Since the Breeders’ Cup Classic was instituted in 1984, Alysheba and Sunday Silence were the only two horses to win three legs of a four-race sequence that was defined in 2015 as the Grand Slam of Thoroughbred racing: The Triple Crown races, plus the Breeders' Cup Classic, and Sunday Silence was the first horse to win three legs of the modern Grand Slam in the same year. As the Breeders' Cup began after the 1978 Triple Crown win of Affirmed, the potential for a sweep of all four races only became possible in 1984, and did not occur until 2015 when American Pharoah won the Triple Crown and eventually the Grand Slam.
Racing statistics
The data below is based on data available on Equibase.
Stud record
Sunday Silence was sold to Japanese breeder Zenya Yoshida, to stand at his Shadai Stallion Station in Shiraoi, Hokkaido. Yoshida had acquired a 25% interest in Sunday Silence early in his 4-year-old season and bought out the other partners for $7.5 million in 1991.
Sunday Silence flourished in Japan and became their leading sire from 1995 through 2007, taking over from Northern Taste (ten-time leading sire in Japan). He was particularly successful with daughters from the Northern Dancer sire line. However, breeders were generally not successful expanding his influence outside of Japan. His progeny have won many races in Japan, including 20 out of 22 JRA Grade 1 flat races (the only exceptions are the NHK Mile Cup and the Japan Cup Dirt). His progeny also have won International Grade 1 race including the Hong Kong Vase, Hong Kong Mile and Dubai Sheema Classic.
Additionally noteworthy about Sunday Silence during this time was a close bond he would form with fellow stallion Mejiro McQueen, who acted as a calming influence towards him. The two were noted for being best friends, and were sometimes jokingly referred to as "lovers" by racing fans and farm hands alike, despite both of them being stallions. However, their bloodlines would eventually merge when Sunday Silence's son, Stay Gold, mated with Mejiro McQueen's daughters, such as Point Flag and Oriental Art. This specific nick, known as the "Golden Combination", produced highly successful racehorses such as Dream Journey, Orfevre, and Gold Ship.
Descendants of Sunday Silence have broken many earnings records, in part because he was active at the start of the "big crop" era (siring about 2000 foals) and also because the average purses in Japan are significantly higher than the rest of the world. Conservative estimates on the earnings of Sunday Silence descendants place the total near JPY 80 billion (approximately $730 million according to Equibase).
He was also the leading broodmare sire in North America in 2016 with Japanese racehorse Lani's entry in the Kentucky Derby that year with a Grade II win in Dubai, followed by off the board finishes in the Derby and Preakness, and a third-place finish in the Belmont. Once qualified to appear on the broodmare sire list, Sunday Silence then got enhancements from his Japanese runners, where there is a substantial disproportion between North American purses and the significantly higher purses in Japan.
Major winners
c = colt, f = filly
Sire of sires and broodmares
Many of Sunday Silence's sons have gone on to become successful breeding stallions, with at least seventeen of them siring Group or Grade I winners. These include:
Fuji Kiseki sired Kane Hekili, Straight Girl, Sun Classique (Dubai Sheema Classic) and Isla Bonita.
Dance in the Dark sired Delta Blues, the winner of Australia's Melbourne Cup.
Stay Gold sired Orfevre, Gold Ship, Dream Journey, Nakayama Festa, Fenomeno, Oju Chosan, Red Reveur (Hanshin Juvenile Fillies), Admire Lead (Victoria Mile), Rainbow Line, Win Bright and Indy Champ. Orfevre in turn sired Marche Lorraine, Lucky Lilac, Juryoku Pierrot and Ushba Tesoro, while Gold Ship sired Uberleben, Meiner Grand (Nakayama Daishogai), and Meisho Tabaru.
Agnes Gold sired Silence Is Gold, Abu Dhabi, Mais Que Bonita, Abidjan, Antonella Baby, Ivar, Energia Fribby, Hevea, Honra Real, Nathan, Olympic Kremlin, Culo e Camicia, Olympic Jhonsnow, Orfeu Negro, Olympic Las Palmas, Janelle Monae, In Love, Online, Look Of Love, No Fear, Doutor Sureño and Neverwalkalone.
Divine Light sired Natagora.
Special Week sired Gold Blitz (Teio Sho), Roman Legend (Tokyo Daishōten), Toho Jackal (Kikuka Sho), Buena Vista and Cesario; who in turn foaled Epiphaneia, Leontes, and Saturnalia. Epiphaneia would then go on to sire Daring Tact, Efforia, Ten Happy Rose, Circle of Life, Blow the Horn, Stellenbosch and Danon Decile. Leontes would go on to sire T O Royal and Museum Mile. Saturnalia would go on to sire Cavallerizzo and Rodeo Drive. Special Week is also the damsire of Deirdre.
Manhattan Cafe sired Grape Brandy (February Stakes), Hiruno d'Amour (Tenno Sho), Jo Cappuccino (NHK Mile Cup), Red Desire and Queens Ring (Queen Elizabeth II Commemorative Cup).
Agnes Tachyon sired Logic (NHK Mile Cup), Daiwa Scarlet (Oka Sho, Shuka Sho, Queen Elizabeth II Commemorative Cup, Arima Kinen), Deep Sky, Captain Thule (Satsuki Sho), Little Amapola (Queen Elizabeth II Cup) and Reve d'Essor.
Death
Sunday Silence died on August 19, 2002. He had been treated for laminitis for the previous 14 weeks and had developed an infection in one leg as well. He had been given a stronger dose of a different painkilling medication the previous day to provide him relief, and apparently as a result, he had become comfortable enough to lie down for the first time in a week. The following morning, he appeared unable to rise, and while veterinarians were discussing what to do, he died, apparently of heart failure.
In popular culture
In the horse racing game Derby Owners Club, Sunday Silence is one of the sires available to breed in the game. He is also pictured on one of the official game cards.
In the Japanese franchise Umamusume: Pretty Derby, the unseen ghost "friend" of another character, Manhattan Cafe, is believed by many to be Sunday Silence. Other references to Sunday Silence exist in the series, but the horse itself is never mentioned by name.