35 Facts About Sunday Silence

Sunday Silence was an American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse and sire.

Sunday Silence's racing career was marked by his rivalry with Easy Goer, whom he had a three to one edge over in their head-to-head races.

Sunday Silence was the leading sire in Japan on thirteen occasions, surpassing the previous record of ten titles by Northern Taste.

Sunday Silence was foaled on March 25,1986, at Stone Farm in Paris, Kentucky.

Sunday Silence was sired by Halo out of Wishing Well by Understanding.

Sunday Silence 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.

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.

Sunday Silence's 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.

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.

Sunday Silence came up lame after a gallop seven days before the race.

Easy Goer broke slow, and Sunday Silence was bumped at the start, then the pair settled into their sports.

When Sunday Silence made his move on the turn, Easy Goer made a faster one and swept to the front.

However, by virtue of his two Classic wins and his runner-up performance, Sunday Silence was awarded the third $1,000,000 Visa Triple Crown Bonus for best three-year-old in the series.

Sunday Silence was the post time 2:1 second choice behind Easy Goer at 1:2.

The race started as usual for Sunday Silence who settled five lengths behind the leader, but Easy Goer broke slow and was 11 lengths from the front for much of the race.

Sunday Silence took control with about an eighth of a mile to go, with Easy Goer three lengths behind.

At this point, Sunday Silence had earned what was then a single-season record $4.59 million and won seven times in nine starts for the 1989 campaign, earning him Eclipse Award for Outstanding 3-Year-Old Male Horse and Horse of the Year honors.

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.

Sunday Silence suffered an injured ligament that eventually led to his retirement.

In 1996, Sunday Silence was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.

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.

Sunday Silence was sold to Japanese breeder Zenya Yoshida, to stand at his Shadai Stallion Station in Shiraoi, Hokkaido.

Sunday Silence flourished in Japan and became their leading sire from 1995 through 2008, taking over from Northern Taste.

Sunday Silence was particularly successful with daughters from the Northern Dancer sire line.

Sunday Silence's progeny have won many races in Japan, including 20 out of 22 JRA Grade 1 flat races.

Sunday Silence's progeny have won International Grade 1 race including the Hong Kong Vase, Hong Kong Mile and Dubai Sheema Classic.

Descendants of Sunday Silence have broken many earnings records, in part because he was active at the start of the "big crop" era and because the average purses in Japan are significantly higher than the rest of the world.

Sunday Silence was 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.

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.

Sunday Silence is the damsire of Screen Hero, Duramente, and Almond Eye, among others.

When Blood-Horse magazine started to include Japanese earnings in their stallion rankings in 2016, Sunday Silence was the leading broodmare sire of the year.

Sunday Silence had been treated for laminitis for the previous 14 weeks and had developed an infection in one leg as well.

Sunday Silence 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.

Sunday Silence is pictured on one of the official game cards.