A Fantastic Rivalry 25 Years Ago: Sun Silence & Easy Goer
Feb 13, 2014 10:16:41 GMT -5
Post by Evelyn on Feb 13, 2014 10:16:41 GMT -5
It's hard to believe this was 25 years ago! Will we see something similar again? Is the last line about the JC Gold Cup true?
From Xpressbet's Jon White
A Fantastic Rivalry 25 Years Ago
Hard to believe, but it has been 25 years since Sunday Silence and Easy Goer provided Thoroughbred racing fans with so much entertainment in all three Triple Crown events and the Breeders’ Cup Classic. In my view, racing has not had a rivalry anywhere close to as good as that one since those two colts clashed four times as 3-year-olds in 1989.
In the book “Horse Racing’s Greatest Rivalries,” Gary West authored Chapter 17, Easy Goer-Sunday Silence.
“For many, they defined racing,” West wrote. “Their meetings lifted racing to a place rarely seen anymore, to an arena of idealized and rarified competition. They confronted each other time and again on the sport’s largest stage, and their confrontations brought out a throng of fans, a multitude of television viewers, and, of course, a host of clichés: They were as good as it gets, they were what it was all about, and, yes, they represented racing at its best.
“Cliches, however, are inadequate to describe those meetings of Sunday Silence and Easy Goer. For most of 1989, they were two of the best horses in the country, and perhaps the world. But by any measure they were also two of the best horses of the era, both destined for the Hall of Fame. If not for the other, either would have swept the Triple Crown.”
I certainly agree that either Sunday Silence or Easy Goer would have been a Triple Crown winner if one of them had been born some other year. But while fate thus denied the sport its 12th Triple Crown winner, it did give us a rivalry for the ages. It was a quintessential East vs. West rivalry, no doubt a key reason as to why it was so great.
Easy Goer, characterized by Gary West as “a powerful chestnut colt,” resided in New York. Sunday Silence, “a sleek black colt,” made his home in California.
Sunday Silence, trained by Charlie Whittingham, ranked No. 31 in The Blood-Horse’s book listing the Top 100 Racehorses of the 20th Century. Easy Goer, conditioned by Shug McGaughey, was No. 34.
Sunday Silence “was working-class all the way, a hero for the common man,” Craig Harzmann wrote in The Blood-Horse book. “Once a horse that nobody wanted, he became one that few could beat. It was all there, the complete package, buried within his obsidian exterior. Sunday Silence had the guts, the fight, the drive. It took the skill of a master to expose it, but [trainer] Charlie Whittingham found every last ounce of talent inside Sunday Silence’s gleaming frame. What resulted was pure magic.
“Owner Arthur Hancock III [who had purchased Sunday Silence from his breeder, Oak Cliff Stable] tried to sell the Kentucky-bred at auction -- not once, but twice. There just weren’t any takers. Sunday Silence’s pedigree wasn’t stellar. Neither were his looks. But Whittingham sensed something special, and he bought in, along with Dr. Ernest Galliard. From there, the fairy tale took wing.”
Easy Goer, in contrast to Sunday Silence, was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. By a champion (Alydar) and out of a champion (Relaxing), Easy Goer was viewed all along as “one of the ones” for the famed Phipps Stable.
Again quoting from The Blood-Horse’s book listing the Top 100 Racehorses of the 20th Century, Tom LaMarra wrote: “Few modern-day horses have stirred the dreams and expectations that were embodied in the powerful chestnut frame of Easy Goer. The regally bred scion of a racing dynasty met those expectations in authoring an unforgettable racing career.”
In February 1989, Easy Goer was gearing up for his first start as a 3-year-old, as was Sunday Silence. Easy Goer had been voted an Eclipse Award as champion 2-year-old male of 1988 and was the strong early favorite for the Kentucky Derby prior to his debut at 3, whereas Sunday Silence had not even run in a stakes race yet before his 1989 debut.
In early March, Easy Goer kicked off his 3-year-old campaign in winning fashion. So did Sunday Silence. Easy Goer won Gulfstream Park’s seven-furlong Swale by 8 3/4 lengths on March 2. Two days later at Santa Anita Park, Sunday Silence splashed his way to a 4 1/2-length victory in a 6 1/2-furlong allowance affair on a sloppy track.
I did not bet on or against Sunday Silence when he made his initial start of 1989. But he did cost me money in his next five races. Here is a review:
Race: Grade II San Felipe Handicap at Santa Anita
Date: March 19, 1989
My Wager: Music Merci to win
Result: Sunday Silence won
Comments: Why did I bet on Music Merci? He was coming off a nine-length win in the Grade II San Rafael Stakes. That’s why Music Merci, not Sunday Silence, was the betting favorite in the San Felipe. But Sunday Silence won the San Felipe by 1 3/4 lengths. Music Merci finished third.
Race: Grade I Santa Anita Derby
Date: April 8, 1989
My Wager: Houston to win
Result: Sunday Silence won
Comments: Houston not only was undefeated (three for three) going into the Santa Anita Derby, he already had defeated Sunday Silence by a head in a 6 1/2-furlong allowance race at Hollywood Park the year before on Dec. 3. Houston headed into the Santa Anita Derby off a 10 1/2-length victory in Aqueduct’s Grade II Bay Shore Stakes at seven furlongs. A son of Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew and Eclipse Award winner Smart Angle, Houston was the 4-5 favorite in the Santa Anita Derby. Sunday Silence, the 5-2 second choice, won by 11 lengths. It remains the biggest margin ever by a Santa Anita Derby winner. Houston finished fifth.
Race: Grade I Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs
Date: May 6, 1989
My Wager: Easy Goer to win
Result: Sunday Silence won
Comments: The year before, when I was at Caesar’s Palace with my dad, Easy Goer was running in a 6 1/2-furlong allowance race. I told my dad that this was supposed to be maybe the best horse in New York in years. So we both bet on Easy Goer, who won by three lengths and paid only $2.60. After Easy Goer’s victorious 1989 debut in the Swale, he ran one mile in 1:32 2/5 to win the Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct by 13 lengths. Following Easy Goer’s scintillating performance, I bet him to win the Kentucky Derby. But once again I lost and Sunday Silence won. Sunday Silence, despite zigzagging down the stretch on a muddy track, prevailed by 2 1/2 lengths as the 3-1 second choice. Easy Goer, favored at 4-5 while coupled with Awe Inspiring, had to settle for second.
Race: Grade I Preakness Stakes at Pimlico
Date: May 20, 1989
My Wager: Easy Goer to win
Result: Sunday Silence won
Comments: This turned out to be one of the greatest races in Triple Crown history. In an epic stretch battle, Sunday Silence and Pat Valenzuela won by a desperate nose over Easy Goer and Pat Day. Easy Goer was sent off as the 3-5 favorite, with Sunday Silence the 2-1 second choice. I bet Easy Goer to win the Preakness mainly because I thought he probably had not been at his best in the mud at Churchill Downs. The year before, Easy Goer had been upset as a 3-10 favorite when the runner-up to Is It True on a muddy surface in the Grade I Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Churchill. But even though the track was fast for the Preakness, Easy Goer lost, albeit narrowly.
Race: Grade I Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park
Date: June 10, 1989
My Wager: Sunday Silence to win
Result: Easy Goer won
Comments: By this time, I felt like I had been banging my head against the wall, having lost when I had wagered against Sunday Silence in the San Felipe, Santa Anita Derby, Kentucky Derby and Preakness. “Okay, I get it,” I thought. So I bet Sunday Silence in the Belmont. For the first time in his career, Sunday Silence was favored in a stakes race. He was 9-10. But this time Easy Goer won by eight lengths as the 8-5 second choice while coupled with Awe Inspiring. No Triple Crown for Sunday Silence. More money lost for me.
Race: Grade I Breeders’ Cup Classic at Gulfstream Park
Date: Nov. 4, 1989
My Wager: Sunday Silence to win, plus Sunday Silence over Easy Goer in the exacta
Result: Sunday Silence won
Comments: Going into the BC Classic, I was 0-5 in 1989 when either betting on or against Sunday Silence. But I was very confident I was going to get it right this time. The Thursday evening before the BC Classic, David Scott of the Daily Racing Form and I were guests by telephone on the Lee Pete radio show on Las Vegas station KDWN. Scott spent about 10 minutes spelling out the reasons why he considered Easy Goer a cinch to win the BC Classic. Then it was my turn. I made the case as to why I felt Sunday Silence was a cinch. I said I also believed it was a sure thing that the exacta would be Sunday Silence and Easy Goer, in that order.
In those days, I was a chart-caller for the Racing Form. I called the official charts for all nine of Sunday Silence’s starts in California during his career. After the Belmont, Sunday Silence finished second as a 1-5 favorite to Prized in Hollywood Park’s Grade II Swaps Stakes at 1 1/4 miles. As I noted in my comments in the chart for that race, with a little more than a furlong to go, Sunday Silence jumped marks on the track where the starting gate had been. I thought this played a significant role in Sunday Silence’s defeat. But for some reason, in Sunday Silence’s lifetime past performances, there is no mention that he jumped tracks during the stretch run of the Swaps. It says only, “Lugged out late.” I think whoever made the decision to put “lugged out late” instead of “jumped track marks” dropped the ball.
Whittingham saw it the same way I did. He blamed Sunday Silence’s loss in the Swaps on the track marks in a Sports Illustrated article written by Demmie Stathoplos.
“He jumped when he noticed the marks left on the track by the starting gate,” Whittingham said, “and when Valenzuela gave him a whack to get back on course, he ducked. He sees everything.”
Sunday Silence, Stathoplos wrote, “got back in gear but could only finish second.”
Prized won the Swaps by three-quarters of a length and would go on to capture the Grade I BC Turf that year.
When Sunday Silence made his next start, in the Grade I, $1 million Super Derby at Louisiana Downs, I noticed that the colt raced with a shadow roll for the first time. The addition of a shadow roll, it appeared to me, really helped Sunday Silence in that he ran straight as a string down the stretch in the 1 1/4-mile Super Derby, which he won by six lengths.
When I said on the Lee Pete Show that I thought Sunday Silence had run better with a shadow roll, David Scott said he was not impressed with the race and that he didn’t think Sunday Silence beat anything.
I agreed that Sunday Silence had not defeated a particularly strong field in the Super Derby. But the important thing, I told Scott, was I had no doubt Sunday Silence would run a much better race in the BC Classic than in the Super Derby.
“I don’t buy it,” Scott said. “Are you trying to tell me that Charlie Whittingham used the Super Derby as a prep?”
“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying.”
“But the Super Derby was worth $1 million,” an unconvinced Scott said. “You’re telling me he used a race worth $1 million as a prep race?”
“Well, let me ask you a question, David. What’s the purse of the Breeders’ Cup Classic?”
“It’s $3 million,” Scott replied.
“That’s right. And which race is going to determine Horse of the Year, the Super Derby or the Breeders’ Cup Classic?”
“The Breeders’ Cup Classic,” Scott answered.
“Yes, I assure you that Sunday Silence, who has probably the greatest trainer in history at being able to have a horse peak for a big race, will run much better in the $3 million Breeders’ Cup Classic than in the $1 million Super Derby.”
I also said that I felt Sunday Silence had an advantage over Easy Goer on a mile track like Gulfstream. Sunday Silence was more agile than the bigger Easy Goer. Consequently, Sunday Silence handled turns on a mile track much better than Easy Goer, whereas the sweeping turns on Belmont’s 1 1/2-mile oval suited Easy Goer better than a mile track.
I went on to say that I believed it also did not help Easy Goer in the BC Classic that he was cutting back to 1 1/4 miles after winning the 1 1/2-mile Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont. I believed it was another plus for Sunday Silence in the BC Classic that he was not cutting back in distance.
“Trainer Shug McGaughey ran Easy Goer four times between the Belmont and the Classic, first winning the 1 1/8-mile Whitney and the 1 1/4-mile Travers at Saratoga and then the 1 1/4-mile Woodward Stakes at Belmont Park,” William Nack wrote in his 1989 BC Classic recap for Sports Illustrated. “At the time of the Aug. 19 Travers, McGaughey had shown little inclination to run Easy Goer in the 1 1/2-mile Jockey Club Gold Cup on Oct. 7 at Belmont. Sometime after the Sept. 18 Woodward, however, he changed his mind.
“This came as no surprise. After all, Easy Goer’s owner, Ogden Phipps, is a former chairman of The Jockey Club, after which the race is named; his son, Ogden Mills Phipps, is the chairman today. Over the past few years, faced with competition from the richer Breeders’ Cup Classic, the Gold Cup’s prestige has waned, and it certainly would have been a further blow to its reputation had Phipps chosen to pass up the race with his champion horse.
“In the end, Easy Goer beat six ordinary horses in the Gold Cup, winning by four lengths and earning $659,400 for his exertions, but that victory may have exacted a price. It meant that Easy Goer would be coming to the 10-furlong Classic off the 12-furlong Gold Cup -- a potentially tricky parlay for a trainer, because the longer race can have the dangerous effect of dulling the colt’s natural speed, of blunting the quickness that he might need in the shorter race.
“In contrast, trainer Charlie Whittingham had run Sunday Silence only twice in the five months since the Belmont, both times at a 1 1/4-mile distance -- in the Swaps Stakes at Hollywood, where he finished second, and two months later in the Sept. 24 Super Derby at Louisiana Downs, which he won by six. Time and again, the 76-year-old Whittingham has shown that there is no trainer more adept than he at preparing a horse for a single goal over an extended period of time. In the week before Breeders’ Cup Day, he was plainly buoyed by what he perceived to be his advantages going into the Classic.
“ ‘My colt will win,’ Whittingham said on the eve of the Classic. ‘He’s fresher than Easy Goer, he’s quicker, and I know from experience that the longer races are harder on a horse than the shorter ones. Easy Goer just had a long one. You don’t get over them so easy.’ ”
Sunday Silence, with Chris McCarron in the saddle, won the 1989 BC Classic by a neck as the 2-1 second choice in the wagering. After being far back early, Easy Goer made a late charge, but it was too little too late. Easy Goer finished second as the 1-2 favorite.
Many believed Day had goofed when Easy Goer dropped back so far early. But I don’t think it was Day’s fault. Day was keenly aware that it could be difficult to try and catch Sunday Silence if Easy Goer dropped far back early. But Easy Goer, racing on a mile oval this time after a busy summer campaign while coming off a 1 1/2-mile race on a 1 1/2-mile oval, did drop far back early in the BC Classic. Easy Goer found himself 11 lengths behind in the early going, and there really wasn’t anything Day could do about it.
After getting it wrong in the San Rafael, Santa Anita Derby, Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont, I finally got it right in the BC Classic. Not only did Sunday Silence win, it was a Sunday Silence and Easy Goer exacta in that order. The $2 exacta paid $9.80.
Sunday Silence was voted 1989 Eclipse Awards as champion 3-year-old male and Horse of the Year. He would go on to have a phenomenally successful career at stud in Japan.
And it’s probably not a coincidence that after Easy Goer lost the 1989 BC Classic when asked to cut back in distance to 1 1/4 miles from the 1 1/2-mile Jockey Club Gold Cup, the distance for the 1990 Gold Cup was shortened to 1 1/4 miles. The Gold Cup has been run at 1 1/4 miles ever since.
From Xpressbet's Jon White
A Fantastic Rivalry 25 Years Ago
Hard to believe, but it has been 25 years since Sunday Silence and Easy Goer provided Thoroughbred racing fans with so much entertainment in all three Triple Crown events and the Breeders’ Cup Classic. In my view, racing has not had a rivalry anywhere close to as good as that one since those two colts clashed four times as 3-year-olds in 1989.
In the book “Horse Racing’s Greatest Rivalries,” Gary West authored Chapter 17, Easy Goer-Sunday Silence.
“For many, they defined racing,” West wrote. “Their meetings lifted racing to a place rarely seen anymore, to an arena of idealized and rarified competition. They confronted each other time and again on the sport’s largest stage, and their confrontations brought out a throng of fans, a multitude of television viewers, and, of course, a host of clichés: They were as good as it gets, they were what it was all about, and, yes, they represented racing at its best.
“Cliches, however, are inadequate to describe those meetings of Sunday Silence and Easy Goer. For most of 1989, they were two of the best horses in the country, and perhaps the world. But by any measure they were also two of the best horses of the era, both destined for the Hall of Fame. If not for the other, either would have swept the Triple Crown.”
I certainly agree that either Sunday Silence or Easy Goer would have been a Triple Crown winner if one of them had been born some other year. But while fate thus denied the sport its 12th Triple Crown winner, it did give us a rivalry for the ages. It was a quintessential East vs. West rivalry, no doubt a key reason as to why it was so great.
Easy Goer, characterized by Gary West as “a powerful chestnut colt,” resided in New York. Sunday Silence, “a sleek black colt,” made his home in California.
Sunday Silence, trained by Charlie Whittingham, ranked No. 31 in The Blood-Horse’s book listing the Top 100 Racehorses of the 20th Century. Easy Goer, conditioned by Shug McGaughey, was No. 34.
Sunday Silence “was working-class all the way, a hero for the common man,” Craig Harzmann wrote in The Blood-Horse book. “Once a horse that nobody wanted, he became one that few could beat. It was all there, the complete package, buried within his obsidian exterior. Sunday Silence had the guts, the fight, the drive. It took the skill of a master to expose it, but [trainer] Charlie Whittingham found every last ounce of talent inside Sunday Silence’s gleaming frame. What resulted was pure magic.
“Owner Arthur Hancock III [who had purchased Sunday Silence from his breeder, Oak Cliff Stable] tried to sell the Kentucky-bred at auction -- not once, but twice. There just weren’t any takers. Sunday Silence’s pedigree wasn’t stellar. Neither were his looks. But Whittingham sensed something special, and he bought in, along with Dr. Ernest Galliard. From there, the fairy tale took wing.”
Easy Goer, in contrast to Sunday Silence, was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. By a champion (Alydar) and out of a champion (Relaxing), Easy Goer was viewed all along as “one of the ones” for the famed Phipps Stable.
Again quoting from The Blood-Horse’s book listing the Top 100 Racehorses of the 20th Century, Tom LaMarra wrote: “Few modern-day horses have stirred the dreams and expectations that were embodied in the powerful chestnut frame of Easy Goer. The regally bred scion of a racing dynasty met those expectations in authoring an unforgettable racing career.”
In February 1989, Easy Goer was gearing up for his first start as a 3-year-old, as was Sunday Silence. Easy Goer had been voted an Eclipse Award as champion 2-year-old male of 1988 and was the strong early favorite for the Kentucky Derby prior to his debut at 3, whereas Sunday Silence had not even run in a stakes race yet before his 1989 debut.
In early March, Easy Goer kicked off his 3-year-old campaign in winning fashion. So did Sunday Silence. Easy Goer won Gulfstream Park’s seven-furlong Swale by 8 3/4 lengths on March 2. Two days later at Santa Anita Park, Sunday Silence splashed his way to a 4 1/2-length victory in a 6 1/2-furlong allowance affair on a sloppy track.
I did not bet on or against Sunday Silence when he made his initial start of 1989. But he did cost me money in his next five races. Here is a review:
Race: Grade II San Felipe Handicap at Santa Anita
Date: March 19, 1989
My Wager: Music Merci to win
Result: Sunday Silence won
Comments: Why did I bet on Music Merci? He was coming off a nine-length win in the Grade II San Rafael Stakes. That’s why Music Merci, not Sunday Silence, was the betting favorite in the San Felipe. But Sunday Silence won the San Felipe by 1 3/4 lengths. Music Merci finished third.
Race: Grade I Santa Anita Derby
Date: April 8, 1989
My Wager: Houston to win
Result: Sunday Silence won
Comments: Houston not only was undefeated (three for three) going into the Santa Anita Derby, he already had defeated Sunday Silence by a head in a 6 1/2-furlong allowance race at Hollywood Park the year before on Dec. 3. Houston headed into the Santa Anita Derby off a 10 1/2-length victory in Aqueduct’s Grade II Bay Shore Stakes at seven furlongs. A son of Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew and Eclipse Award winner Smart Angle, Houston was the 4-5 favorite in the Santa Anita Derby. Sunday Silence, the 5-2 second choice, won by 11 lengths. It remains the biggest margin ever by a Santa Anita Derby winner. Houston finished fifth.
Race: Grade I Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs
Date: May 6, 1989
My Wager: Easy Goer to win
Result: Sunday Silence won
Comments: The year before, when I was at Caesar’s Palace with my dad, Easy Goer was running in a 6 1/2-furlong allowance race. I told my dad that this was supposed to be maybe the best horse in New York in years. So we both bet on Easy Goer, who won by three lengths and paid only $2.60. After Easy Goer’s victorious 1989 debut in the Swale, he ran one mile in 1:32 2/5 to win the Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct by 13 lengths. Following Easy Goer’s scintillating performance, I bet him to win the Kentucky Derby. But once again I lost and Sunday Silence won. Sunday Silence, despite zigzagging down the stretch on a muddy track, prevailed by 2 1/2 lengths as the 3-1 second choice. Easy Goer, favored at 4-5 while coupled with Awe Inspiring, had to settle for second.
Race: Grade I Preakness Stakes at Pimlico
Date: May 20, 1989
My Wager: Easy Goer to win
Result: Sunday Silence won
Comments: This turned out to be one of the greatest races in Triple Crown history. In an epic stretch battle, Sunday Silence and Pat Valenzuela won by a desperate nose over Easy Goer and Pat Day. Easy Goer was sent off as the 3-5 favorite, with Sunday Silence the 2-1 second choice. I bet Easy Goer to win the Preakness mainly because I thought he probably had not been at his best in the mud at Churchill Downs. The year before, Easy Goer had been upset as a 3-10 favorite when the runner-up to Is It True on a muddy surface in the Grade I Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Churchill. But even though the track was fast for the Preakness, Easy Goer lost, albeit narrowly.
Race: Grade I Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park
Date: June 10, 1989
My Wager: Sunday Silence to win
Result: Easy Goer won
Comments: By this time, I felt like I had been banging my head against the wall, having lost when I had wagered against Sunday Silence in the San Felipe, Santa Anita Derby, Kentucky Derby and Preakness. “Okay, I get it,” I thought. So I bet Sunday Silence in the Belmont. For the first time in his career, Sunday Silence was favored in a stakes race. He was 9-10. But this time Easy Goer won by eight lengths as the 8-5 second choice while coupled with Awe Inspiring. No Triple Crown for Sunday Silence. More money lost for me.
Race: Grade I Breeders’ Cup Classic at Gulfstream Park
Date: Nov. 4, 1989
My Wager: Sunday Silence to win, plus Sunday Silence over Easy Goer in the exacta
Result: Sunday Silence won
Comments: Going into the BC Classic, I was 0-5 in 1989 when either betting on or against Sunday Silence. But I was very confident I was going to get it right this time. The Thursday evening before the BC Classic, David Scott of the Daily Racing Form and I were guests by telephone on the Lee Pete radio show on Las Vegas station KDWN. Scott spent about 10 minutes spelling out the reasons why he considered Easy Goer a cinch to win the BC Classic. Then it was my turn. I made the case as to why I felt Sunday Silence was a cinch. I said I also believed it was a sure thing that the exacta would be Sunday Silence and Easy Goer, in that order.
In those days, I was a chart-caller for the Racing Form. I called the official charts for all nine of Sunday Silence’s starts in California during his career. After the Belmont, Sunday Silence finished second as a 1-5 favorite to Prized in Hollywood Park’s Grade II Swaps Stakes at 1 1/4 miles. As I noted in my comments in the chart for that race, with a little more than a furlong to go, Sunday Silence jumped marks on the track where the starting gate had been. I thought this played a significant role in Sunday Silence’s defeat. But for some reason, in Sunday Silence’s lifetime past performances, there is no mention that he jumped tracks during the stretch run of the Swaps. It says only, “Lugged out late.” I think whoever made the decision to put “lugged out late” instead of “jumped track marks” dropped the ball.
Whittingham saw it the same way I did. He blamed Sunday Silence’s loss in the Swaps on the track marks in a Sports Illustrated article written by Demmie Stathoplos.
“He jumped when he noticed the marks left on the track by the starting gate,” Whittingham said, “and when Valenzuela gave him a whack to get back on course, he ducked. He sees everything.”
Sunday Silence, Stathoplos wrote, “got back in gear but could only finish second.”
Prized won the Swaps by three-quarters of a length and would go on to capture the Grade I BC Turf that year.
When Sunday Silence made his next start, in the Grade I, $1 million Super Derby at Louisiana Downs, I noticed that the colt raced with a shadow roll for the first time. The addition of a shadow roll, it appeared to me, really helped Sunday Silence in that he ran straight as a string down the stretch in the 1 1/4-mile Super Derby, which he won by six lengths.
When I said on the Lee Pete Show that I thought Sunday Silence had run better with a shadow roll, David Scott said he was not impressed with the race and that he didn’t think Sunday Silence beat anything.
I agreed that Sunday Silence had not defeated a particularly strong field in the Super Derby. But the important thing, I told Scott, was I had no doubt Sunday Silence would run a much better race in the BC Classic than in the Super Derby.
“I don’t buy it,” Scott said. “Are you trying to tell me that Charlie Whittingham used the Super Derby as a prep?”
“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying.”
“But the Super Derby was worth $1 million,” an unconvinced Scott said. “You’re telling me he used a race worth $1 million as a prep race?”
“Well, let me ask you a question, David. What’s the purse of the Breeders’ Cup Classic?”
“It’s $3 million,” Scott replied.
“That’s right. And which race is going to determine Horse of the Year, the Super Derby or the Breeders’ Cup Classic?”
“The Breeders’ Cup Classic,” Scott answered.
“Yes, I assure you that Sunday Silence, who has probably the greatest trainer in history at being able to have a horse peak for a big race, will run much better in the $3 million Breeders’ Cup Classic than in the $1 million Super Derby.”
I also said that I felt Sunday Silence had an advantage over Easy Goer on a mile track like Gulfstream. Sunday Silence was more agile than the bigger Easy Goer. Consequently, Sunday Silence handled turns on a mile track much better than Easy Goer, whereas the sweeping turns on Belmont’s 1 1/2-mile oval suited Easy Goer better than a mile track.
I went on to say that I believed it also did not help Easy Goer in the BC Classic that he was cutting back to 1 1/4 miles after winning the 1 1/2-mile Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont. I believed it was another plus for Sunday Silence in the BC Classic that he was not cutting back in distance.
“Trainer Shug McGaughey ran Easy Goer four times between the Belmont and the Classic, first winning the 1 1/8-mile Whitney and the 1 1/4-mile Travers at Saratoga and then the 1 1/4-mile Woodward Stakes at Belmont Park,” William Nack wrote in his 1989 BC Classic recap for Sports Illustrated. “At the time of the Aug. 19 Travers, McGaughey had shown little inclination to run Easy Goer in the 1 1/2-mile Jockey Club Gold Cup on Oct. 7 at Belmont. Sometime after the Sept. 18 Woodward, however, he changed his mind.
“This came as no surprise. After all, Easy Goer’s owner, Ogden Phipps, is a former chairman of The Jockey Club, after which the race is named; his son, Ogden Mills Phipps, is the chairman today. Over the past few years, faced with competition from the richer Breeders’ Cup Classic, the Gold Cup’s prestige has waned, and it certainly would have been a further blow to its reputation had Phipps chosen to pass up the race with his champion horse.
“In the end, Easy Goer beat six ordinary horses in the Gold Cup, winning by four lengths and earning $659,400 for his exertions, but that victory may have exacted a price. It meant that Easy Goer would be coming to the 10-furlong Classic off the 12-furlong Gold Cup -- a potentially tricky parlay for a trainer, because the longer race can have the dangerous effect of dulling the colt’s natural speed, of blunting the quickness that he might need in the shorter race.
“In contrast, trainer Charlie Whittingham had run Sunday Silence only twice in the five months since the Belmont, both times at a 1 1/4-mile distance -- in the Swaps Stakes at Hollywood, where he finished second, and two months later in the Sept. 24 Super Derby at Louisiana Downs, which he won by six. Time and again, the 76-year-old Whittingham has shown that there is no trainer more adept than he at preparing a horse for a single goal over an extended period of time. In the week before Breeders’ Cup Day, he was plainly buoyed by what he perceived to be his advantages going into the Classic.
“ ‘My colt will win,’ Whittingham said on the eve of the Classic. ‘He’s fresher than Easy Goer, he’s quicker, and I know from experience that the longer races are harder on a horse than the shorter ones. Easy Goer just had a long one. You don’t get over them so easy.’ ”
Sunday Silence, with Chris McCarron in the saddle, won the 1989 BC Classic by a neck as the 2-1 second choice in the wagering. After being far back early, Easy Goer made a late charge, but it was too little too late. Easy Goer finished second as the 1-2 favorite.
Many believed Day had goofed when Easy Goer dropped back so far early. But I don’t think it was Day’s fault. Day was keenly aware that it could be difficult to try and catch Sunday Silence if Easy Goer dropped far back early. But Easy Goer, racing on a mile oval this time after a busy summer campaign while coming off a 1 1/2-mile race on a 1 1/2-mile oval, did drop far back early in the BC Classic. Easy Goer found himself 11 lengths behind in the early going, and there really wasn’t anything Day could do about it.
After getting it wrong in the San Rafael, Santa Anita Derby, Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont, I finally got it right in the BC Classic. Not only did Sunday Silence win, it was a Sunday Silence and Easy Goer exacta in that order. The $2 exacta paid $9.80.
Sunday Silence was voted 1989 Eclipse Awards as champion 3-year-old male and Horse of the Year. He would go on to have a phenomenally successful career at stud in Japan.
And it’s probably not a coincidence that after Easy Goer lost the 1989 BC Classic when asked to cut back in distance to 1 1/4 miles from the 1 1/2-mile Jockey Club Gold Cup, the distance for the 1990 Gold Cup was shortened to 1 1/4 miles. The Gold Cup has been run at 1 1/4 miles ever since.
