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Originally Posted by DaTruth
Enjoyed the article. I like how you weaved anecdotes into the article and placed the 2012 Derby in an historical context. Very well done.
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Thanks.
Easy Goer and Sunday Silence are unquestionably two of the top ten horses to race during my entire lifetime.
I still remember the opening segment to the 1989 Belmont Stakes narrated by Jim McKay. It went something sort of like this ...
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He's the horse they wouldn't believe. He's the horse they wouldn't buy. He's the horse who wouldn't give up. He's Sunday Silence.
The horse with the quiet name. In the San Felipe, he went to his knees at the start and came on to win the race. But still, they wouldn't believe.
In the Santa Anita Derby he won by 11 lengths, and still, they would not believe. So he went to Kentucky and beat the favorite Easy Goer. His old trainer winked and said "we will win the Triple Crown" -- and would you believe, STILL, they would not believe!
It was on to the Preakness at Baltimore and Easy Goer again the favorite and Sunday Silence again victorious in a race that none who saw it will ever forget.
Now it's the Belmont and a shot at the Triple Crown. They say things will be different this time. The distance is a mile and a half. It's in New York, the place where Easy Goer lives and where he registered all of his great wins as a 2-year-old.
Will today finally be the day for Easy Goer, or will it just be a great Sunday Silence!
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Sunday Silence really did have that magical 'beat the odds' element to him.
I'll Have Another certainly does to -- albeit to a less dramatic extent. He's never been the favorite in a race -- he also sold cheaply twice at auction (Sunday Silence RNA'd at a 2yo sale when his bidding price failed to reach 50K)
Bodemeister is an extremely exciting horse ... especially for a 3-year-old finding form at the right time.
I don't think I'll ever see a horse again who is Easy Goer type exciting. He was like the perfect horse from his breeding, to his performances and figures, to his visual qualities and the way he would finish through the stretch. I believe he ran the 3rd worst speed figure of his entire life in the Kentucky Derby -- and still finished 2nd.
If you draw a line through his career debut, and his two races over a muddy Churchill Downs track, he always fired incredibly sensational races and was such a great performer. He swept the three races at age 3 that Secreatariat failed to win -- Wood Memorial, Whitney Handicap, and Woodward -- he shaved a full second off of Big Red's Gotham Stakes record time, he ran the 2nd fastest Belmont in history behind only Big Red, and he also won the Travers in sensational time. Sunday Silence was the only horse to beat him in a very tough 3yo campaign that saw him dance every dance.
If Bodemeister doesn't win ... I hope he at least runs his race and I'll Have Another finds something that I really don't think he has to beat him. He wouldn't be the first Derby winner to jump up and pop an unexpected great performance in the Preakness ... Smarty Jones, Funny Cide, and Charismatic all did recently. I even think War Emblem's Preakness win was a better performance than his Derby win.
Anyway -- if Bodemeister fires and doesn't crush this field as I expect -- it would be nice to see this budding rivalry countinue all season. Even if they don't deserve to be compared with Easy Goer and Sunday Silence ... Bodemeister has ton of raw talent, excitement, and great pedigree like EG did. And I'll Have Another has that underdog angle like SS always did.
Sunday Silence, of course, wasn't the favorite in the San Felipe. Wasn't the favorite in the SA Derby. Wasn't the favorite in the Ky Derby. Wasn't the favorite in the Preakness. Wasn't the favorite in the Breeders Cup Classic ... and he won them all.