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59.
Sunday Silence -
The Horse Nobody Wanted
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19/08/2002 |
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By
Chris Scholtz
Sunday
Silence twice slipped through the sale ring unwanted, his story the classic tale
of the ugly duckling who became a swan.
Sunday Silence, by Halo from Wishing Well, was taken to auction twice as a
yearling and as a two-year-old in 1987 and 1988 – and failed to find a buyer
on both occasions.
Both times he was bought back by principal owner Arthur Hancock after bidders
didn't meet his reserve price.
''He was the perfect example of an ugly duckling that turns into a swan with
age,'' Hancock said of the colt.
''Like the skinny teenager that develops into a big strong athlete, some horses
are just a little late in maturing.''
In 1989, Sunday Silence became the fourth horse since Affirmed won the US Triple
Crown in 1978 to win the first two legs of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness
Stakes.
However he failed to complete the Triple Crown when he was beaten eight lengths
by arch rival Easy Goer in the Belmont Stakes.
Easy Goer was the odds-on favourite for the Kentucky Derby, but Sunday Silence,
ridden by Pat Velenzuela, took the lead on the final turn and beat him by 2˝
lengths.
The victory made then 76-year-old California trainer Charlie Whittingham the
oldest trainer to capture the Run for the Roses.
Sunday Silence missed two days of training for the Preakness but again he ran
down Easy Goer after that colt took the lead on the final turn.
The two charged stride for stride to the finish with Sunday Silence scoring by a
nose in one of the greatest classic finishes in US racing history.
Sunday Silence and Easy Goer had won more clash when they met in November of
1989 in the $US3 million Breeders Cup Classic.
The old rivalry again went down to the line with Sunday Silence, ridden by Chris
McCarron, holding off Easy Goer to score by a neck, a victory that earned him
the 3YO Champion and Horse of the Year titles for 1989.
Sunday Silence won nine races in 14 career starts, earning $US4,968,554. He was
inducted into the US racing’s Hall of Fame in 1996.
Sunday Silence was sold to Zenya Yoshida’s Shadai Farm in Japan in June of
1990 and by the 1995 was unchallenged as that country’s leading sire.
He has since won six successive Japan sire premierships, producing more than 470
individual winners. They include 74 stakeswinners and 21 Group One winners.
His progeny have earned more than $US140 million, enjoying greatest success in
Japan where his G1 horses have included Special Week, Stay Gold, Silent Honor,
Admiral Vega, Bubble Gum Fellow, Agnes Flight, Fuji Kiseki, Air Shakur and
Tayasu Tsuyoshi.
His influence spread to Australia with the arrival of his stallion sons Bubble
Gum Fellow and Fuji Kiseki, followed by the advent of his yearlings bred to
Australian time appearing in major sale catalogues over the last two years where
they have invariably been among the top sellers.
At the 2002 Australian Easter Yearling Sale in Sydney in April Sunday Silence
was responsible for four of the top nine lots, selling for $1.2 million, $1.1
million, $925,000 and $575,000.
He will be represented at Australian studs this spring by his high class sire
sons Fuji Kiseki, Genuine and Tayasu Tsuyoshi.
By
Chris Scholtz
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