Sunday Silence: How Good of Stallion Was He?

[horsenuts]

I'd say pretty darn good.. but hard to gauge having stood in Japan. If anyone can post some stats on SS as a stud that would be great. Of course his son Special Week is the sire of Cesario and we alll saw how good she was as she dominated the American Oaks running 1 1/4 in 1:59:04 while winning by 4 lengths. Her performance was certainly one of the top 5 races I have witnessed this year along with GZ's Met/Afleet Alex's Preakness & Ark. Derby and Bellamy Road's Wood.

So just how good of sire was Sunday Silence? Would he rank as one of the top 5-10 studs worldwide over the past 50-75 years? I know this covers a lot of greats but SS dominated Japan's breeding ranks for a solid decade. And is he on his way to being a sire-of-sires as well?

I dismissed him when he went to stud figuring Easy Goer would be a great sire while SS would fade into oblivion. I couldn't have been more wrong. EG like so many Alydars proved disappointing as a sire though he died prematurely with only 3 or 4 crops.

Halo has had some outstanding sons at stud with Sunday Silence and Saint Ballado at the top of the list. Are there any sons of Sunday Silence standing in the U.S.? They could certainly use a few as I think they would be very popular even the ones deemed to be lower tier. Whoever thought we'd be asking the Japanese for there castoffs?

[xfactor fan]

Try looking for a colt named Austin Powers. I think he's a Sunday Silence son back in the US.

[Sam]

Try looking for a colt named Austin Powers. I think he's a Sunday Silence son back in the US.

I believe there are 3 SS here in the states. Austin Powers in KY, Eishien Masamune (just had his first winner recently) in CO and Fusiachi Zenon in CA

[Mahubah]

Austinpower (Jpn) is at Lou-Roe Farm near Morriston, FL. He stood at Hurstland Farm in KY in 2004.

[Sam]

Austinpower (Jpn) is at Lou-Roe Farm near Morriston, FL. He stood at Hurstland Farm in KY in 2004.

My bad ... Austin Powers is the Sadler's Wells in KY, right?

[Pete]

Hi Sam,

Austin Powers, (1996 IRE) by Sadler's Wells - Guess Again by Stradavinsky stands at Griffiths Farmin KY
Austinpower, (1998 JPN) by Sunday Silence - Eishin Austin by Seattle Slew stands at Lou-Roe Farm in Florida.

A few years ago I was analyzing the Japaneese stallions by their listings in the sales catalogs (this helps me understand the possible/probable commercial appeal of stallions). Sires with 2 stakes winners per crop with the occassional graded winners, were well respected. Sunday Silence had (at that time) 46 graded SWs in 8 crops, or an average of nearly 6 graded SWs per crop. Heady stuff.

He did have enormous foal crops but he was truly superior in Japan. I don' know that he would have been the same sensation here in NA, but I'm sure he would have had some success.

Regards,

Pete

[summerhorse]

Hard to compare his success in Japan since it was (and still is I guess) so protectionist. Sunday was the whale shark circling the fish bowl there! But his huge overwhelming success there would indicate that he would have probably been a leading sire here too, just not such a monster one having to play with the big boys so to speak. But I would expect he would have been at least as successful if not more so than Halo and St. Ballado. Shame the US was stupid enough to let him go.

Easy Goer showed in his abbreviated career that he would have probably been a good sire (probably the best Alydar which is of course not saying much but probably the best by a LONG shot). I think his problem would have been of soundness issues, he was very crooked in front and probably passed that on a lot. but he showed right away he could get horses that could compete at the top. But he probably never would have been in a halo sire line league i dont' think, being by Alydar. He would have had to really fight the genetic tide to do that BUT his bottom line might have let him do that. Shame he died so young.