Sunday Silence was better than Easy Goer

[chiguy]

Thought things were a little quite around here.....Seriously though I was watching some old races on the You Tube last night and wow were we treated to some great races and horses during our lifetime. Sunday Silence, Easy Goer, Alysheba, Cigar, Holy Bull just to name a few. We just don't have them like we used to.

[deathandgravity]

No argument here!
One of my favorites:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ii3uxsveFk

[Denny]

Being a New Yorker and having seen him run so many times, including setting 1-mile track record at Aqueduct (which still stands) in person, I was a huge Easy Goer fan.

But, in retrospect think Sunday Silence may have been the better horse.
He had such better tactical speed.

Still if Day hadn't screwed up in the Preakness (something he admits) they'd be 2-2 in heads up meetings.

Also, Goer's Belmont was one of the fastest outside Secretariat. 2:26 and change if I remember.

Tough call. One thing for sure, they were both pretty great!

[Tom]

Easy Goer was New York's own.
Outside, he was second place.

[papillon]

In all of the"who's greater" debates, those in which the two horses actually raced against each other and did not end up tied, has always seemed kind of wistful, magical thinking on the part of the fan whose horse was on the losing end of the stick to me.

The greatest loss to American racing was Sunday Silence as a sire, and almost all of that was due to east coast, sore loser, Easy Goer- east coast Phipps snobbery. Easy Goer was a hall of famer 2 yo, he was a great 3 yo, but it was proved on the track that he was not as great as Sunday Silence. In a battle between Phipps, the east coast Phipps won, even though it was the west coast's Phipps' horse that proved it where it counts, on the track.

The Sunday Silence--Easy Goer debate is very similar to the Dr Fager--Damascus debate. Damascus was not Fager's equal (of course it is more than possible that the only horse to come close was his little sister). The sad part of the Fager--Damascus debate is that poor Hedivar goes down in history as a foil, when he should go down as one of the greatest sprinters in history. He was the only horse that could challenge Fager for 6f. The only one that ever was able to burn him up.

[AskinHaskin]

Originally Posted by papillon

In all of the"who's greater" debates, those in which the two horses actually raced against each other and did not end up tied, has always seemed kind of wistful, magical thinking on the part of the fan whose horse was on the losing end of the stick to me.

The greatest loss to American racing was Sunday Silence as a sire,

Alydar’s death at 16 was a much greater loss to American racing than anything missed in Sunday Silence.

As to the first part, what explains Mioland and Challedon?

Their head-to-head score wasn’t even close and yet...

[dilanesp]

Originally Posted by Denny

Being a New Yorker and having seen him run so many times, including setting 1-mile track record at Aqueduct (which still stands) in person, I was a huge Easy Goer fan.

But, in retrospect think Sunday Silence may have been the better horse.
He had such better tactical speed.

Still if Day hadn't screwed up in the Preakness (something he admits) they'd be 2-2 in heads up meetings.

Also, Goer's Belmont was one of the fastest outside Secretariat. 2:26 and change if I remember.

Tough call. One thing for sure, they were both pretty great!

Easy Goer had every opportunity to outduel SS in the Preakness. He couldn't. I think his fans are dead wrong on that race.

[Tom]

When Easy Goer drew off in the Belmont, I ended up with 8 large Jenny's in front of me at the FL bar. Best bet I made on horse race that day!

So he is one of my favorites of all time.

[GMB@BP]

Sunday Silence always got candy trips so there is that.

[Mulerider]

Sunday Silence was one of my all time favorites. Think I read he was pretty ornery, though.

[Denny]

Originally Posted by dilanesp

Easy Goer had every opportunity to outduel SS in the Preakness. He couldn't. I think his fans are dead wrong on that race.

"

Goer should have never been on the inside.
Day screwed up and he admits it. It's one ride he always says he wishes he had back. Heard him say it.

There's no doubt who was the better stallion. SS.

[RunForTheRoses]

...but was he better than Zenyatta on synth? On dirt?

[RunForTheRoses]

Originally Posted by chiguy

Thought things were a little quite around here.....Seriously though I was watching some old races on the You Tube last night and wow were we treated to some great races and horses during our lifetime. Sunday Silence, Easy Goer, Alysheba, Cigar, Holy Bull just to name a few. We just don't have them like we used to.

One unsung horse from that era was In Excess, real badass and ran fast Beyers. That was around the time of the Racing Times or whatever Christ's paper was called.

[Wiley]

Originally Posted by Mulerider

Sunday Silence was one of my all time favorites. Think I read he was pretty ornery, though.

Mine too.
Not sure if it was the Derby or another big race, but Whitingham had a big cut on his head in the pre race interview and I guess he said that Sunday had reared in the saddling stall and kicked him in the head.

I might be wrong on my memory on this one, but I also think when he was a young horse, he was being transported in a trailer when there was an accident that crashed the truck and his trailer and they found SS out of the trailer on the side of the road with some minor cuts and bruises. I think Arthur Hancock had tried to sell him also but decided to keep him after the accident, maybe he was on his way to auction prior to the wreck. I think SS saved Hancock's farm with his success from racing.

[RunForTheRoses]

Originally Posted by RunForTheRoses

One unsung horse from that era was In Excess, real badass and ran fast Beyers. That was around the time of the Racing Times or whatever Christ's paper was called.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Excess_(horse)
Stellar:

On January 19, 1991, In Excess made his first start on dirt in the San Fernando Stakes at Santa Anita Park. Not only did he win, he set a new stakes record of 1:46 3/5 for one and one-eighth miles. [2] Sent to compete in dirt races at New York tracks, In Excess swept the Metropolitan Handicap in May, the Suburban Handicap in July in a track-record time of 1:58 1/5, the Whitney Handicap in August, and the Woodward Stakes in September in a very fast 1:46 1/5. His four wins in these major events was an accomplishment not seen since the great Kelso did it thirty years earlier in 1961. In Excess was a front-running horse and despite his win in the 1¼ mile Suburban Handicap, he raced best at distances of a mile to a mile and one eighth.

Now I remember this debacle:


Widely regarded as the best horse in America and the favorite for 1991 American Horse of the Year honors, [3] In Excess was scheduled to compete in the November 2 1¼ mile Breeders' Cup Classic on dirt. However, the field had several horses such as Farma Way and Black Tie Affair who, like In Excess, were frontrunners, and trainer Bruce Jackson felt that the situation would make it very difficult for his horse to win, particularly at that distance. In addition, the race was to be held that year at Churchill Downs and In Excess put up slow times in pre-race training on that track. As a result, his trainer elected to run him in the Breeders' Cup Mile on grass, a surface he had won on in England and the United States. In Excess finished ninth in the Mile, his worst American finish ever, and it cost him the Horse of the Year title. [4]