From: Ima ufo (Original Message) Sent: 19/08/2002 5:12 PM
Sunday Silence died today at 11 am after a long battle with Laminitis.
http://www.bloodhorse.com/images/content/sunday_silence.jpg
The potential loss caused by the death of Sunday Silence, who has been the leading stallion for the last seven years up to 2001 and is having a walkover this year, is estimated to exceed a staggering 150 billion yen.
The average price of his foals at the Select Sale in July was 92.48 million yen, far exceeding those of the second runner, Green Desert (35.33 million yen) and of the third runner, El Condor Pasa (24.91 million yen).
Yoshida found in May that the horse was suffering from peritendinitis on his right foreleg.
The horse underwent an urgent operation for the third time on the 18th of the last month, and was reported to be recovering well enough to walk by himself.
However, the pain in the right foreleg may have caused the horse to over-burden the left foreleg, thus worsening the laminitis there,
said Yoshida. "We were anticipating the disease to occur sooner or later, and it's lucky it didn't come until now. He may have used his left foreleg too much to ease the pain in the right leg.
''He had drawn his weight back over his hindquarters like a horse about to jump and had his feet drawn somewhat together in order to take the weight off them," said spokesman Eisuke Tokutake. We did everything possible to support his ailing legs, but I must admit that there's nothing we can do now".
The stallion, Sunday Silence, has begotten 21 GI horses and 74 graded race winners since 1991.
Many Japanese fans, Tokutake says, have called to berate the staff. ''People call to yell at us, demanding to know why we can't help him. We've gotten a lot of e-mail messages like that as well.'' But mostly, Japanese have stayed away. ''We've had such a run of bad luck, End Sweep, El Condor Pasa, now Sunday. People don't know what to say. Sometimes I think God is having some fun with us. We can't see the cause of this, this infection. It seems to be something to have come from inside.'' Buddhist priests, as is the traditional Japanese custom in times of misfortune, have been called in to cleanse the farm.
Wishing and Breeding Well by Ann Ferland ©
Some time ago, one of the foreign-based members of a forum I frequent on the internet was interested in the success of Sunday Silence and asked whether his dam, Wishing Well, was considered well-bred. I wrote the following article as a response. The victory of Silent Honor, an Irish-bred daughter of Sunday Silence in the Cherry Hinton Stakes at the Newmarket July meeting makes a review seem timely.
In terms of Kentucky blue-blooded fashion, California-bred Wishing Well was not well-bred; but she was very carefully bred, the culmination of three generations of diligent work by a master of breeding champion horses with 'nothing' pedigrees, one George A. Pope, Jr., of El Peco Ranch near Madera, California. I never met Mr. Pope nor spoke with him about his breeding theories - all I can do is observe, comment on what he did and guess at his reasoning.
The story starts properly with a mare named Dowager, foaled in 1948, acquired by Pope in the early 50's. On the surface, this unplaced half sister to a raft of non-winners would seem an unlikely ancestress for a classic winner, but her own ancestry wasn't too shabby a generation or two back.
Dowager's sire was Free France, a Man o' War half-brother to the champion Johnstown, both out of the Sir Gallahad III mare La France. If you didn't breed in California 50 years ago you probably never heard of him, but Mr. Pope specialized in using obscure stallions with strong female lines and La France represented such a line. In fact, her family plays an important part in the story of Wishing Well and below I show the close relationship of La France, the mare La Rambla, and the champion brothers Omaha and Flares.
Omaha and Flares by Gallant Fox (by Sir Gallahad III)
out of Flambino (x Flambette, by Durbar x La Flambee)
La France by Sir Gallahad III
out of Flambette (by Durbar x La Flambee)
La Rambla by Sir Gallahad III
out of La Rablee (by Rabelais, sire of Durbar, x La Flambee)
Flambette won the C.C.A. and Latonia Oaks, Flambino won the Gazelle; Flambette was also granddam of Gallorette, while La France's daughter Jacola produced champion Phalanx. More of La France and La Rambla later.
Dowager's dam was the English import Marcellina (by Figaro, a son of Colorado and Tillywhim), a winner over the jumps. She produced one winner in England before coming to this country where she was nearly a total flop. Out of eight U.S. foals, two won, only one of which, Jet Speed, was any much good, a stakes winner in Arizona and Western Canada. Jet Speed won 22 of 149 starts and was the only one of Marcellina's U.S. foals that was sired by a native-born stallion.
Marcellina was out of Belle Mere, a full sister to the outstanding sire Beau Pere, both by Son-in-Law out of the 1000 Guineas heroine Cinna. Cinna's second dam was the amazing La Fleche, winner of the Guineas, Oaks, St. Leger, Ascot Gold Cup, etc.. Since Beau Pere first made a stir in New Zealand and Australia, it is no wonder that most of Belle Mere's female line descendents ended up Down Under - they have produced such as Dulcify (champion), Sweet Spray (NZ Oaks), Sweet Nymph (NZ Oaks), Gold and Black (Melbourne Cup), Bye Bye, Clay Hero, Sir Avon, etc.
Beau Pere had done well after being imported to California, so it is no surprise that Belle Mere's daughter was brought to the state; what a disappointment she must have been! But the genes were still there, waiting to be re-activated.
With Dowager, Mr. Pope followed a pattern he used frequently. He would breed his mare to a chosen stallion twice, then try another one for a couple of years, then another - later he might come back to a stallion, presumable if he liked the result of the first mating. He did have favorite stallions that he used in this pattern for many of his mares, especially his own homebreds, Hillary and Decidedly, but he also sent his mares to "oddball" stallions if they had the blood he wanted. He evidentally kept careful track of the bloodlines that "worked" with each mare and used this knowledge to choose the mates for her daughters.
Dowager's first mate was Owner's Choice, a stakes-winning son of Blenheim II - Annie Reigh, by Reigh Count; Mr. Pope may have noted that Jet Speed was by Count Speed, by Reigh Count. These matings resulted in two sound but cheap multiple winners. Okay, Blenheim II and Reigh Count blood are definitely on the list for the next generation's possible mates.
Her next mate was Imperium, a stakes winning son of Piping Rock (a Fairway-sired half-brother to Khaled), and the blue hen Imperatrice, by Caruso. Two matings, two sound (52 and 89 starts), multiple winners, claiming class again. So Fairway, Eclair (dam of Khaled), and Imperatrice seemed to work.
Next, Dowager was sent to a stallion that was obviously dear to Mr. Pope's heart, his first homebred stakes winner, Hillary (Khaled - Snow Bunny by Boswell). Racing over four years, this son of Khaled won six times in 27 starts and was placed seven more times; he won the La Jolla Mile at Del Mar and another stakes, was second in the Malibu at Santa Anita, but was clearly below the top level of competitors. Yet it was Hillary who proved to be the sire of Mr. Pope's first international champion, Hill Rise, and damsire of another two, Mysterious and J.O. Tobin.
Hillary's own pedigree was of more than passing interest because he was inbred to two outstanding producers, the English mares Serenissima and Black Ray; the specifics are given below.
Hyperion (x Selene x Serenissima)
Khaled
Eclair (x Black Ray)
Hillary
Bosworth (x Serenissima)
Boswell
Flying Gal (by Sir Gallahad III)
Snow Bunny
Jacopo (x Black Ray)
La Rose
La Rambla (by Sir Gallahad III)
Additionally, the sire of Jacopo was Sansovino, a half-brother to Serenissima. Sir Gallahad III, who appears twice in Snow Bunny's pedigree, was himself out of the legendary broodmare Plucky Liege. So Hillary was packing a potent dose of "mare-power."
Here is where we come back to Omaha's close relatives, La France and La Rambla. Hillary descended in female line from La Rambla while Dowager's sire was out of La France, giving the products of this union a double dose of yet another potent female line. Mr. Pope seems to have been particularly fond of the La Flambee family; his homebred Kentucky Derby winner Decidedly descended in tail-female from a daughter of La France.
Unfortunately, Dowager's Hillary foals were not good racers, Hilldow being unplaced in six attempts and Edelweiss never running. So some correction was needed for the next generation. Doubling up the La France/La Rambla blood hadn't worked - time to try something different.
The first stallion Mr. Pope tried for Edelweiss was Montparnasse II, whom he stood at his own ranch. Montparnasse II was an Argentine-bred horse that had been only modestly successful in his homeland and in North America, winning a Grade 3 at San Isidro. At stud, he was something of a shuttle stallion; he stood one season in California, then was sent back to Argentina for a few years, then returned to California. His first U.S. crop of six foals (all of whom started) included a winner of the Del Mar Derby. His Argentine crops produced several excellent performers, such as Arsenal (won Grand Premio de Brasil), Big Shot II (stakes winner in Peru, Grade I-type stakes winner in the U.S.), and Straightway (champion in Venezuela). Back in the States he continued to send out a good proportion of allowance/high claiming-type horses as well as stakes winneres like Montmartre (American H.-G2), Madera Sun (Del Mar Derby-G3), Montespan (Will Rogers H.-G2), Meilleur (Palomar H., etc), all from tiny (compared to current scores) crops of 11, 14, 7, 18, 21 foals. However this success was still in the future when Edelweiss produced one of those six foals in the stallion's first U.S. crop.
Montparnasse II was a son of Gulf Stream, who had been unbeaten at two and top of the Free Handicap in England before adding the St. James Palace S. at three. In Argentina, he led the sires' list three times. Gulf Stream was by Hyperion from the classic-winner Tide-way, by Fairway. Hmm, adding more Serenissima via Selene and Hyperion probably seemed an interesting idea, plus there was access to the Fairway genes that Dowager's winning foals by Imperium had had.
Montparnasse II was a full brother to two much better racehorses, Ma Comtesse and Montmartre, both Grade 1-type winners in Argentina; their dam was an unraced member of a prolific family of stakes winners descending from a broodmare named Pethy. Aside from a remote cross to Belle Mere's sire Son-in-Law, she offered new genetic material to the mix for Edelweiss.
The filly that Edelweiss foaled in 1964 to Montparnasse II was named Mountain Flower, but this filly was not among her best offspring; Mountain Flower only managed to place in seven tries. Mr. Pope tried another South American stallion, Anisado, for her next, but that offspring also failed to win. His choice for her in a stallion the following few years was a more convention bloodline, Nanak, by Princequillo out of a Nasrullah mare from the excellent English family stemming from Careless. Her two by Nanak were multiple winners who started nearly four dozen times each. Edelweiss's best foal came along in 1972, Unexpectedly, by Mr. Pope's own Decidedly, who won 12 of 64 starts including stakes races at the California fairs at age seven. Overall, Edelweiss produced seven foals, all of which raced but only four of which were winners: the two by Nanak, Unexpectedly, and Mountain Flower's much younger full brother Magically (won 12 of 55 starts).
But when Mr. Pope was planning for Mountain Flower's 1974 mating, Magically was yet to be foaled and Unexpectedly was an unraced two-year-old. Mountain Flower had produced a Decidedly filly in 1970 that he named Surprisingly; she had been a decent-ish sort of runner but no Mysterious. The next two from Mountain Flower hadn't even made it to the races. He must have been ready to try something really "off the wall" to try to bring out the best qualities she had inherited from her ancestors.
Now I am speculating big time here, but the facts were out there and an astute breeder as Mr. Pope must have been aware of them. One would think that he must have had some good reason to use as obscure a stallion as he did.
Here is where we go back to La France (remember her?). Well, she had a half-sister named Jacola, by Jacopo; this made her closely related to Hillary's second dam La Rose, by Jacopo x La Rambla. Jacola was a major stakes winner, with wins in the Selima S., Washington H., Laurel S., etc. Among her 12 foals (10 winners) were the champion three-year-old Phalanx and the *Belfonds filly Jaconda. The latter was also a stakes producer (all nineof her foals won) but her master production in the stud was her gray 1954 filly by Palestinian named Lysistrata.
Lysistrata won four races from ages two to four; in the breeding shed she produced seven winners from seven foals, including three that were top-class stakes winners, every one sired by a different stallion. The variety of her mates ranged from Paper Tiger to Bold Lad (USA) - representatives of two different eras in American breeding; it made no difference to this consistent matron. Her first stakes winner was the 1962 Porterhouse colt Isle of Greece: a Derby candidate at three (he knocked heads with Tom Rolfe, Lucky Debonair and Jacinto) with one stakes win and numerous placings; he came back to win the San Fernando S. at four before running second in the Strub. Lysistrata's second stakes winner was a horse whose form may have been compromised by taking the Derby trail, Reflected Glory (a 1964 Jester product). He blazed through the Hialeah series for Derby candidates - the Bahamas, the Everglades and the Flamingo Stakes - but sank without a trace in the Triple Crown itself and never regained his form thereafter. The last of Lysistrata's three stakes winners was probably her best, the 1968 Bold Lad (USA) filly Bold Fascinator. Placed in the Criterium des Pouliches at two, she went on at three to win the classic Poule d'Essai des Pouliches and the Prix de la Grotte, and to run second against older horses in the Prix de la Foret.
So, having a horse whose pedigree included Lysistrata's sire Palestinian for mixing with the La Rambla/La France breeding already present in Mountain Flower's genetic make-up might seem to be a good idea.
As it happened, Isle of Greece and Reflected Glory were available to Mr. Pope as mates for Mountain Flower since they were both standing at stud in California. Reflected Glory turned out to be a pretty good stallion, with Preakness winner Snow Chief to his credit. However, doubling up the La France/La Rambla blood had not been particularly effective and he may have been hesitant about adding a third dose. So another source of Palestinian was needed.
Palestinian's best racing son had been the versatile and talented Promised Land, winner of 21 of 77 starts and over half a million dollars (in the 50' s) from two to six. His wins included the San Juan Capistrano, the Massachusetts 'Cap, and the Pimlico Special; his total might have been higher had he not been a member of the stellar crop of 1954 and had to contend with Bold Ruler, Round Table, Gallant Man and that sort throughout his career.
Promised Land had been at stud in California and would have been the ideal mate but unfortunately he had died by 1974. Despite a successful stud career, there were relatively few sons of his who had excelled enough to earn stud careers of their own - Promised Land was far from fashionable, which is why California got him in the first place.
One of these few was a 1963 colt named Understanding. A winner of seven races from two to five, he had only won a single stakes race - the Stuyvesant Handicap - but had placed in the Widener, Jerome, and Massachusetts Handicaps as well as several others. Horses with worse records have been given a chance at stud. However Understanding committed the ultimate sin of having a totally unfashionable pedigree. His dam was by Stymie, her dam was by Bull Lea (not too bad), and the next two dams were by Westy Hogan and Jack Atkins (who?). In some ways it was a very old pedigree, based on the blood of Domino, Ben Brush, and Fair Play, who dominated racing in the first few decades of this century, reaching even further back in some cases - Westy Hogan belonged to the sire line of Dick Welles (sire of 1909 Ky Derby winner Wintergreen) and Met Mile winner Jack Atkins was out of a mare by Emperor of Norfolk. So off to California he went.
But Mr. Pope was not put off by lack of fashionability; he sent Mountain Flower to Understanding in 1974, and in 1975 she foaled her best offspring by far, a bay filly that was to be named Wishing Well. Unfortunately, Mr. Pope did not live to see his judgment vindicated; he died in January 1979, when Wishing Well was only a winner of one overnight stakes race. He didn't get to see her win the Gamely Handicap to become a G2 stakes-winner, didn't see her amass a record of 12 wins in 38, with six wins in stakes races and placings in seven more. And he didn't get to see her first foal (Sunday Silence) win the Kentucky Derby and Preakness double that had just eluded his champion Hill Rise in 1964. Nobody ever said life was fair.
July 22, 2001. Copyright by Ann Ferland 2001.
As you can see from the article his female family was interesting and carefully bred. But not exactly outstanding. Confirmation was SS's main problem with buyers though.
Horny Harry
18-09-2002, 02:42
Last Foal By Sunday Silence Arrives
The final chapter of one of the boldest experiments in Australian thoroughbred history was played out at Arrowfield Stud today with the birth of a black colt by Sunday Silence out of the Gone West mare Sonoray.
http://www.racenet.com.au/breeding/news_images/SundaySilence.jpg
SUNDAY SILENCE
Arrowfield Stud have sent a selection of high quality mares to be covered by the recently deceased Shadai Farm’s superstar since1998 however the rapidly deteriorating health of Sunday Silence before his death in August meant no southern hemisphere mares visited him this year, therefore this will be his final Australian born crop.
Sonoray is a daughter of Mr. Prospector’s champion son Gone West, sire of Arrowfield’s tragic recent loss Zafonic. A half-sister to Grade 3 winning Gulch filly Panama Canal, Sonary is out of the outstanding Pleasant Colony mare Colonial Waters. Over 5 seasons of racing Colonial Waters won 6 races finished second an astonishing 12 times and was third 3 times for earnings of over US$1.1 million. The winner of the Grade 1 John Morris H. and Grade 2 Johnnie Walker Black Classic and Grade 2 Ladies H., Colonial Waters was runner-up in no less than seven Grade 1 races. They included such prestigious events as the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, Beldame Stakes (twice), Ruffian H., Delaware H. and Top Flight H. (twice).
Plenty was expected of Colonial Waters on the racetrack as she is a younger half sister to Withers Stakes (G2) winner and Preakness Stakes (G1) runner-up Iron Constitution (Iron Ruler) and Sword Dancer H. (G1) winner Southern Sultan (Stage Door Johnny).
The first Australian born foals of Sunday Silence are three-year olds this season. They include the stakes winning filly Sunday Joy (Joie Denise), N.Z winner Sunday Whisper (Valsora) and the highly promising Lavishly (Lunaliona), which judging by her outstanding return to racing, a fast finishing third in the Tatt's Club Furious Stakes (G3), looks capable of playing a major role in the fillies classics this year. It will vindicate Arrowfield’s decision to retain the filly after she failed to meet her $550,000 reserve at the 2001 Easter Yearling Sale.
Sunday Silence averaged $820,000 for his five lots at the 2002 Easter Yearling Sale.
By: Mark Smith - Tuesday, 17 September 2002
Handy Harry
16-09-2003, 12:48
SUNDAY SILENCE CHALLENGE
Tuesday, 16 September 2003: An Australian trainer could be given the chance to train a $US2.79 million colt by Sunday Silence – if he is game!
Leading Japanese owner Fusao Sekiguchi has taken the novel approach of virtually putting the training of the colt, a son of the top class Australian mare Seto Flowerian, out to tender,
He is calling for leading trainers from around the world to submit an application to train the rising two-year-old, who is from the last crop of the champion sire Sunday Silence.
"Whoever feels confident to take up the task will be welcomed," said Sekiguchi in a release announcing his worldwide search for a trainer.
"I am seeking a trainer who is not afraid to take risks to make this
endeavour a success.
"I want a trainer who will not be intimidated by the circumstances but to put in his best to train the colt.
“Whoever feels confident to take up the task will be welcomed."
Sekiguchi's unconventional plan is yet another of his venture-minded attempts to pursue the best scenario for his investment.
The youngster was acquired by Sekiguchi in July at Japan’s Select
Foal Sale in Hokkaido where he brought the top price of $US2.79 million (330 million yen) to become the third highest colt in Japan's sale history.
The Japanese entrepreneur is best known for his international success with Kentucky Derby winner Fusaichi Pegasus.
Having an Australian dam may encourage Sekiguchi to strongly consider an Australian trainer for his colt.
Seto Flowerian, by Bellotto from the Yeats mare Yeatsina, raced in Australia for Japanese interests, winning five races including the G3 Adrian Knox Stakes plus a second in the G1 AJC Oaks.
She was sent to stud in Japan at the end of her racing career where she has produced the Sunday Silence colt Tiger Café, winner of two races and second in the G1 Japanese 2000 Guineas.
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