Silky Sullivan????

[Swaps1955]

Anybody see the Sunshine Millions telecast today and see George Royal's race referred to as Silky Sullivan? I kept waiting for it to be corrected but (unless I was out of the room) it never was. Silky was much more exciting a stretch runner than that!

[Lucy]

I saw that was the wrong race - my main clue was that 'Silky' was the wrong color. Good on you, being able to ID who it really was!

[Swaps1955]

Actually, wasn't that hard. It was Johnny Longden's last ride in the 1966 San Juan Capistrano and he won! A great way to go out and a stirring stretch drive, but not the way Silky did it--from 40 lengths out in a 6-1/2 furlong race with clouds of dust to run through.

[SIBONEY]

"Silky Sullivan" was a beautiful horse. I can remember him being on parade in front of the grandstand crowd at Golden Gate Fields in the '70's on "Silky Sullivan Day". The big chestnut knew all the attention was his and he was proud of it as he pranced to the fan's delight.

[Swaps1955]

He was also a very gentle horse. He stood at Three Rings in Beaumont and virtually anyone could come up and pet him. Even my mother (no horseperson!) petted him and adored him. I remember a picture in one of the papers where he was surrounded by schoolchildren (very close to him!) at Santa Anita. He was a gorgeous chestnut who looked as if he had been washed in gold.

[reenci]

Anybody see the Sunshine Millions telecast today and see George Royal's race referred to as Silky Sullivan? I kept waiting for it to be corrected but (unless I was out of the room) it never was. Silky was much more exciting a stretch runner than that!

typical of NBC network....there new's suck's and there reporting is even worse,now it's carring over to there sport's department.they figure no one's going to know...were all idiot's. just goes to show you how low there quality has sunk......................................

[jellac]

Silky Sullivan - Now there's name in horse racing that brought back memories and yes, I remember seeing that photo of Silky surrounded by small children at S.A. Boy could he have your heart in your throat with his come from waaay back stretch runs. Talk about a horse that just liked to 'toy with' his competitors....or maybe he just liked the challenge of giving them a long lead!

P.S. IF you think NBC's coverage stinks - try this: I couldn't even find the outcome of yesterday's TELEVISED races in our 'Big City' newspaper, The Chronicle, this morning. (The Sunshine Millions, etc.) Guess they assume that anyone who might be interested in horseracing saw the race and doesn't need the 'news'. That's how much coverage our sport gets in this area - and we have one of only 3 Class I tracks in Texas. Some newspaper! Where's the parakeet cage that would make this thing useful - (double harumph)!!

[Lucy]

One of my books has a great photo of Silky.....he's being grazed on a cotton lead by a little girl, who looks to be about five years old. That shows what a gentleman he must have been.....most shetland ponies would take advantage of that scenario, never mind thoroughbreds!

Was there ever a book about Silky? I recall looking for one when I was a kid (I'm not old enough to have seen him race, but I did have a couple Breyer models of him).

[Mahubah]

I remember reading somewhere that Silky had a rather severe respiratory infection as a young horse, and it left his breathing affected -- he would make respiratory noises about the first half-mile of a race, then it would clear up and he would start his run. The author's hypothesis was that Silky was essentially a five or six-furlong sprinter but because of his wind problem had to get several furlongs' warm-up before he could breathe freely and turn on the juice. Whatever the cause, his "out of the clouds" style certainly was a crowd pleaser.

[Swaps1955]

I had forgotten about that! I remember Bill Shoemaker (I believe) commenting that he sounded like an alligator roaring in the early part of a race. Silky created his own metaphor..."A Silky Sullivan finish"!