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In 1989 two distinguished three-year-old colts made a great impression on the racing world - SUNDAY SILENCE, a black son of Stone Farm's HALO owned in a three-way partnership by Arthur B. Hancock III, Charlie Whittingham and Dr. Ernest Gaillard...the $17,000 hard-lucker whose victories were accomplished despite all kinds of setbacks from the beginning of his life and his arch rival, EASY GOER...the magnificent and regally-bred son of ALYDAR - a horse with immense ability owned by Ogden Phipps, expertly trained by Claude R. "Shug" McGaughey and ridden throughout his 20-race career by jockey, Pat Day.
This extremely rare time capsule features 14 GREAT RACES ALL IN THEIR ENTIRETY of these two legendary equine athletes including the four races in which they battled against each other in an epic rivalry.
EASY GOER out of champion older mare, RELAXING, was a big strong colt with breeding and the potential and class to be any kind of horse; he just had to prove it on the race track. During his two-year-old season he proved he was a great one winning four of six starts in 1988 and voted Champion Two-Year-Old Colt. Despite losing his sixth start that year in the:
1) BREEDERS' CUP JUVENILE when he ran a dull second to IS IT TRUE on a sloppy track at Churchill Downs
2) EASY GOER came back in the Spring of 1989 with a brilliant effort in the GOTHAM STAKES winning by ten incredible lengths in 1:32:2 breaking SECRETARIAT's record time of 133:2 by a full second creating a new stakes and track record in the second fastest mile in history...just one tick of a second off DR. FAGER's mile record
Meanwhile, out West, SUNDAY SILENCE who was lightly raced as a two-year-old winning only one of three starts in 1988 reeled off three wins in-a-row the Spring of 1989 including:
3) An impressive 11-length romp in the SANTA ANITA DERBY in 1:47:3 - the longest winning margin in the race's history
4) THE WOOD MEMORIAL was next on EASY GOER's Derby trail winning by 3-1/2 lengths
5) EASY GOER was favored in the KENTUCKY DERBY but ran an uninspiring race on a muddy Churchill track (just as he had done in his Breeders' Cup Juvenile loss) and finished second to SUNDAY SILENCE by 2-1/2 lengths
6) THE PREAKNESS of 1989 would go down as one of the most exciting finished in racing history; in a time of 1:53:4 nearing the end of the backstretch, SUNDAY SILENCE and EASY GOER were locked in a battle with SUNDAY SILENCE leading by a head at the stretch call...but EASY GOER passed him and cut in front...SUNDAY SILENCE had to be pulled up...EASY GOER had the momentum going but in the final fateful yards SUNDAY SILENCE, an agile colt with a silky stride, came charging back and through sheer will of heart rallied to edge EASY GOER by a nose at the wire in a dramatic finish between two great horses. Not a bad effort for a horse that was rejected not once but twice at bloodstock sales
7) In THE BELMONT, EASY GOER re-instilled the confidence of the public in him when he denied SUNDAY SILENCE the 9-10 favorite the Triple Crown when he breezed past him at the head of the stretch with such authority winning by eight lengths on his home turf in 2:26 - the second fastest time in the history of the race
Following the Triple Crown, both horses went their separate ways...EASY GOER won his next four races with apparent ease:
8) The WHITNEY HP by 4-1/2 lengths at Saratoga in 1:47:2;
9) The TRAVERS by three lengths in 2:00:4 also at Saratoga;
10) THE WOODWARD at Belmont by two lengths in 2:01 carrying top weight and
11) THE JOCKEY CLUB GOLD CUP by 3-1/2 lengths in 2:29:1 at Belmont. "My horse was really, really at his peak in the Jockey Club Gold Cup", Day said, "and maybe was a little over the top for the Breeders' Cup."
12) Meanwhile SUNDAY SILENCE drew out to a six-length victory in the SUPER DERBY at Louisiana Downs in 2:03:1. Then it was on to Gulfstream Park and
13) Their fourth and final meeting in the 1989 BREEDERS' CUP CLASSIC - Charlie Whittingham, trainer of SUNDAY SILENCE couldn't help saying, "Bring on EASY GOER - we're ready for him!" EASY GOER once again was the 1-2 favorite with SUNDAY SILENCE the second choice at 2-1; the fans should not have underestimated SUNDAY SILENCE on this day. With a perfect ride from Chris McCarron, the black colt spurted away from EASY GOER rounding the far turn then overtook BLUSHING JOHN in the final furlong and held off the late charge and oncoming power of EASY GOER by a neck at the wire
14) The last race added at the very end of the time capsule is SUNDAY SILENCE's 1989 SWAPS STAKES in which he looked like the undisputed winner roaring down the stretch but in the last yards was past up by PRIZED...still a shocker to this day!
With a 3-1 advantage over EASY GOER, SUNDAY SILENCE was voted the 1989 Horse-of-the-Year; he earned $4,578,454 that year - a record for a single season. "Two great racehorses", Day said five years after the rivalry..."I always felt and still feel that on EASY GOER's best day that he was the better of the two but the record doesn't bear that out."
In the Summer of 1990, while in Chicago to prepare for the Arlington Challenge - a race designed to match EASY GOER and SUNDAY SILENCE, SUNDAY SILENCE returned to the barn with a career ending injury and weeks later EASY GOER was also retired due to a chip on the inside sesamoid in his right front ankle. Unfortunately the match race between the two rivals never materialized.
SUNDAY SILENCE completed his career with nine wins and five seconds in fourteen starts and was sold to Zenya Yoshida, a prominent Japanese breeder and soon departed to Shadai Farm in the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido where he stood as the nation's top stallion until his sad and hard-fought battle with laminitis ended on August 19, 2002. SUNDAY SILENCE, who was pegged to become the heir-apparent to Yoshida's aging top sire NORTHERN TASTE, flourished in Japan and was easily Japan's most influential and prolific sire over the last decade, topping the country's sire list for seven consecutive seasons from 1995 to 2001.
The sire of nine crops of racing age, SUNDAY SILENCE sired ten champions and 75 stakes winners and his progeny had earned more than $323 million up to his death. SUNDAY SILENCE, a dual classic winner, 1989 Horse of the Year, and Racing Hall of Fame racehorse who became a legend halfway around the globe as a leading Japanese sire had been hampered by lingering bacterial peritendinitis in his right front leg, which forced Shadai officials to remove the veteran sire from stallion duties on May 10, 2002. He subsequently underwent three emergency surgical procedures in the months ahead to help alleviate the pain and seemed to be improving with constant around-the-clock attention from the world's finest veterinarians; then to everyone's horror he contracted laminitis in the same ailing leg - what medics feared the most. The gallant and regal stead would go on for almost two agonizing weeks with stubborn determination trying to overcome the impossible...refusing to give in or give up. He fought the spread of laminitis now in both front legs and creeping into his hind end...sympathy and concern from around the world poured into Shadai Stallion Station hourly as SUNDAY SILENCE remained painfully standing during his struggle for life - medical professionals, holistic experts, herbalists and others were offering to fly in to help out in any way possible to save the much-loved racing icon. The world anxiously waited to hear any encouraging news of SUNDAY SILENCE's plight throughout his arduous and painful ordeal...the horse's fiery determination keeping him alive. Farm officials had been discussing euthanizing the leading sire but dragged the decision on hoping that by some miracle he would make it against the staggering odds as he'd done so many times before. Unfortunately, SUNDAY SILENCE's gutsy will to go on finally ended...when his aching body couldn't take the pain any longer...he went down in his stall for the last time ...and couldn't get up again...his courageous heart stopped and the fire in his eye faded away peacefully; the racing world mourned the loss of yet another beloved star. At least you may say that it's comforting to know that SUNDAY SILENCE put on the most gallant fight of his life and left this planet on his own terms - a true fighter to the end.
EASY GOER, never out of the money, had a record fourteen victories, five seconds, and on third place from twenty starts. His earnings of $4,873,770 ranked fourth on the all-time list; all nine of his Grade I victories came in New York - in any other year EASY GOER would have been elected Horse-of-the-Year as he distinguished himself by winning such prestigious races as the Belmont, Jockey Club Gold Cup, Travers, Whitney and Wood Memorial.
He was retired to Claiborne Farm to the stall formerly occupied by the great BOLD RULER and SECRETARIAT which stood empty following his death in November of 1989 - which said something about the high regard in which EASY GOER was held. On May 12, 1994, the racing industry was dealt a shocking blow upon hearing the news of EASY GOER's sudden and unexpected death at Claiborne - all were deeply saddened by the loss of this shining star in the prime of his life. At eight-years-old he certainly had many years left to prove himself as a great sire...he is indeed missed by all his loyal and adoring fans for years to come!
Long live the cherished memories SUNDAY SILENCE and EASY GOER have given us! A truly remarkable collection of races - 14 in all from start to finish - a rare opportunity to look back on the rivalry that made the headlines in horse racing for the year 1989!
FOR A DETAILED CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF ALL 14 RACES FEATURED IN THIS TIME CAPSULE, JUST REQUEST A COPY AND A COMPILATION SHEET ALONG WITH THE 1,2,3 FINISHERS WILL BE E-MAILED TO YOU.
92 Minutes.
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