I remember watching this horse in the 1989 Triple Crown races. Here is a recount of that effort:
In the build up to the 1989 Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, a rivalry developed between the west-coast Sunday Silence and Easy Goer, an east-coast thoroughbred with superior breeding. Easy Goer was also the media darling and favorite of the east-coast dominated sports media, who picked him ahead of Sunday Silence in each race of the Triple Crown. In the Kentucky Derby, the first leg of the Triple Crown, Sunday Silence and jockey Pat Valenzuela won by 2 1/2 lengths over Easy Goer, who was reluctant to run on the muddy track that day, according to his trainer Claude R. "Shug" McGaughey III. The media widely accepted the reasoning, and again picked 'Goer to win the Preakness Stakes. But Sunday Silence again prevailed, this time by a nose over Easy Goer. Some Easy Goer loyalists in the media maintained their horse's superiority, attributing the 'loss' to the shortness of the race, which at 1-3/16 miles neutralized Easy Goer's dominant closing speed. In the Belmont Stakes, the final and longest race of the Triple Crown at 1 -1/2 miles (and subsequently Easy Goer's home track), Easy Goer seemed to vindicate his reputation as the better horse by crushing Sunday Silence by eight lengths and denying him the elusive Triple.
Sunday Silence shook off the defeat and went on to win the Super Derby and finish second to eventual Breeders' Cup Turf winner Prized in the Swaps Stakes. This set up one final face-off with Easy Goer at the season-ending Breeders' Cup Classic at Gulfstream Park. The contest was dubbed the 'Race of the Decade' and many believed would decide the winner of the Eclipse Horse of the Year award. Sunday Silence's Jockey Pat Valenzuela had earlier been suspended for cocaine use and was replaced by veteran Chris McCarron. Once again Sunday Silence went off as second choice, and once again he prevailed. He passed Easy Goer at the top of the stretch and pulled ahead by as many as 4 lengths. Easy Goer made one last late surge, but to no avail. Sunday Silence won by a neck, and finally and begrudgingly the sports media recognized him as the better horse.
At this point, Sunday Silence had won seven times in nine starts, giving him the 3-year-old championship and the Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year. In 1996 he was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.
Sunday Silence is a unique horse in that out of 14 career races, he never finished worse than second. Nine of his races were Win (First), 5 were Place (Second).
3 comments:
Beautiful horse!!
Stunning!
I remember watching this horse in the 1989 Triple Crown races. Here is a recount of that effort:
In the build up to the 1989 Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, a rivalry developed between the west-coast Sunday Silence and Easy Goer, an east-coast thoroughbred with superior breeding. Easy Goer was also the media darling and favorite of the east-coast dominated sports media, who picked him ahead of Sunday Silence in each race of the Triple Crown. In the Kentucky Derby, the first leg of the Triple Crown, Sunday Silence and jockey Pat Valenzuela won by 2 1/2 lengths over Easy Goer, who was reluctant to run on the muddy track that day, according to his trainer Claude R. "Shug" McGaughey III. The media widely accepted the reasoning, and again picked 'Goer to win the Preakness Stakes. But Sunday Silence again prevailed, this time by a nose over Easy Goer. Some Easy Goer loyalists in the media maintained their horse's superiority, attributing the 'loss' to the shortness of the race, which at 1-3/16 miles neutralized Easy Goer's dominant closing speed. In the Belmont Stakes, the final and longest race of the Triple Crown at 1 -1/2 miles (and subsequently Easy Goer's home track), Easy Goer seemed to vindicate his reputation as the better horse by crushing Sunday Silence by eight lengths and denying him the elusive Triple.
Sunday Silence shook off the defeat and went on to win the Super Derby and finish second to eventual Breeders' Cup Turf winner Prized in the Swaps Stakes. This set up one final face-off with Easy Goer at the season-ending Breeders' Cup Classic at Gulfstream Park. The contest was dubbed the 'Race of the Decade' and many believed would decide the winner of the Eclipse Horse of the Year award. Sunday Silence's Jockey Pat Valenzuela had earlier been suspended for cocaine use and was replaced by veteran Chris McCarron. Once again Sunday Silence went off as second choice, and once again he prevailed. He passed Easy Goer at the top of the stretch and pulled ahead by as many as 4 lengths. Easy Goer made one last late surge, but to no avail. Sunday Silence won by a neck, and finally and begrudgingly the sports media recognized him as the better horse.
At this point, Sunday Silence had won seven times in nine starts, giving him the 3-year-old championship and the Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year. In 1996 he was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.
Sunday Silence is a unique horse in that out of 14 career races, he never finished worse than second. Nine of his races were Win (First), 5 were Place (Second).
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