Great race video

[Sightseek]

Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS

There never is a bad time to remember the greatness that was Easy Goer.....

I thought you would have been a Sunday Silence sorta guy...

[The Indomitable DrugS]

You read me wrong...

Though, Sunday Silence was certainly an all-time great horse. He also had all the little intangibles that the more talented Easy Goer didn't. Which really is what allowed him to score three upset victories in the four head-to-head meetings.

[Sightseek]

Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS

You read me wrong...

Though, Sunday Silence was certainly an all-time great horse. He also had all the little intangibles that the more talented Easy Goer didn't. Which really is what allowed him to score three upset victories in the four head-to-head meetings.

Speed? Good trips?

[The Indomitable DrugS]

* The combination of strong early speed while having the ability to rate if need be always allowed him to be placed in a better tactical position than Easy Goer through the early and middle stages. It also forced Day to use Easy Goer prematurely in order to put him in the race prior to the far turn.

* The ability to accelerate through the far turn. While Easy Goer seemed to struggle with turns at tracks like Gulfstream, Pimlico, and Churchill Downs - Sunday Silence thrived through that stage of the race.

* Professionalism through the stretch. Neither horse was really all that professional through the stretch, and both literally gave races away in the stretch before. However, Easy Goer's most dominant portion of the race was the stretch run, so it was much more important that he run professionally.

* Ability to handle all surfaces. Sunday Silence won the Derby in the mud. While he never raced on turf, his sire was a Grade 1 winner on turf, his mother was claimed for $32,000 and became a multiple Graded Stakes winning turf horse, he himself was a great sire of turf horses. I think it's safe to assume Sunday Silence would have handled the turf well also. Easy Goer ran two mediocre races over muddy Churchill Downs tracks, when 2nd in the Ky Derby and 2nd in the BC Juvie.

Easy Goer was the better horse on speed figures...routinely running Beyers in the 120-to-126 range. He was just a bad match-up for Sunday Silence though. And, Sunday Silence also happened to be a spectacular speed figure horse himself...though not quite as fast as Easy Goer was.

[Sightseek]

Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS

* The ability to accelerate through the far turn. While Easy Goer seemed to struggle with turns at tracks like Gulfstream, Pimlico, and Churchill Downs - Sunday Silence thrived through that stage of the race.

So I guess it's a matter of athleticism vs. talent, particularly in this point. One could easily argue that athleticism is more important...and certainly got the job done more often when the two matched up.

So who was the more accomplished son of Alydar; Alysheba or Easy Goer? Alysheba does have more championships, Classic win, KY Derby win, TR holder etc

Two neat sites with replays of both for those who do not own a library of videotape :
http://www.hitak.com/home/alydar/easygoer.html

http://www.hitak.com/home/alydar/alysheba.html

[The Indomitable DrugS]

Originally Posted by Sightseek

So I guess it's a matter of athleticism vs. talent, particularly in this point. One could easily argue that athleticism is more important...and certainly got the job done more often when the two matched up.

Not exactly.

The reason why Sunday Silence's athleticism was so important in his victories is because there was no other horse in those races capable of keeping him honest.

All four running were essentially match races. Sunday Silence's jockey simply ignored the rest of the field and focused on Easy Goer throughout. Easy Goer's jockey did the same. The other guys were all running for 3rd money.

Lets add a new wrinkle and say that Dancing Spree and his jockey Angel Coredero was trained by Wayne Lukas instead of Shug.

Dancing Spree won the Grade 1 Suburban Handicap at 1 1/4 miles earlier that year. He was a very good horse, but because he's the stablemate of 1/2 Breeders Cup Classic favorite Easy Goer...Shug instead decided to run him in the 1989 Breeders Cup Sprint instead of the Classic...and Dancing Spree won the BC Sprint closing strongly from mid-pack.

Had Dancing Spree been trained by Lukas, or most any other trainer, he'd have run in the BC Classic. His presence in the race greatly changes the dynamics and makes it an outstanding matchup for Easy Goer.

This is because he was capable of sitting off of Sunday Silence and applying tremendous mid-race pressure to force him to hold his position. Instead of Easy Goer having to be the one forced to move prematurely, it is now SS who has to.

Easy Goer ran a 126 Beyer in defeat in the Breeders Cup Classic, inspite of ducking in towards the gap at the start, being forced to move prematurely, and racing erratically. With a clean break, and with a very classy horse to keep Sunday Silence honest, the Breeders Cup Classic would have been his signature race and I believe he'd have earned a speed figure that was off-the-charts.

[Indian Charlie]

no love for akinemod

[Sightseek]

Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS

Not exactly.

The reason why Sunday Silence's athleticism was so important in his victories is because there was no other horse in those races capable of keeping him honest.

All four running were essentially match races. Sunday Silence's jockey simply ignored the rest of the field and focused on Easy Goer throughout. Easy Goer's jockey did the same. The other guys were all running for 3rd money.

Lets add a new wrinkle and say that Dancing Spree and his jockey Angel Coredero was trained by Wayne Lukas instead of Shug.

Dancing Spree won the Grade 1 Suburban Handicap at 1 1/4 miles earlier that year. He was a very good horse, but because he's the stablemate of 1/2 Breeders Cup Classic favorite Easy Goer...Shug instead decided to run him in the 1989 Breeders Cup Sprint instead of the Classic...and Dancing Spree won the BC Sprint closing strongly from mid-pack.

Had Dancing Spree been trained by Lukas, or most any other trainer, he'd have run in the BC Classic. His presence in the race greatly changes the dynamics and makes it an outstanding matchup for Easy Goer.

This is because he was capable of sitting off of Sunday Silence and applying tremendous mid-race pressure to force him to hold his position. Instead of Easy Goer having to be the one forced to move prematurely, it is now SS who has to.

Easy Goer ran a 126 Beyer in defeat in the Breeders Cup Classic, inspite of ducking in towards the gap at the start, being forced to move prematurely, and racing erratically. With a clean break, and with a very classy horse to keep Sunday Silence honest, the Breeders Cup Classic would have been his signature race and I believe he'd have earned a speed figure that was off-the-charts.

Good stuff.

I can see why Shug would want to shoot for two wins that day, especially how Easy was coming into that race, but it's odd he didn't employ the tactics that you described above. We all know what Dutrow would have done.

[SundayStar]

Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS

* The combination of strong early speed while having the ability to rate if need be always allowed him to be placed in a better tactical position than Easy Goer through the early and middle stages. It also forced Day to use Easy Goer prematurely in order to put him in the race prior to the far turn.

* The ability to accelerate through the far turn. While Easy Goer seemed to struggle with turns at tracks like Gulfstream, Pimlico, and Churchill Downs - Sunday Silence thrived through that stage of the race.

* Professionalism through the stretch. Neither horse was really all that professional through the stretch, and both literally gave races away in the stretch before. However, Easy Goer's most dominant portion of the race was the stretch run, so it was much more important that he run professionally.

* Ability to handle all surfaces. Sunday Silence won the Derby in the mud. While he never raced on turf, his sire was a Grade 1 winner on turf, his mother was claimed for $32,000 and became a multiple Graded Stakes winning turf horse, he himself was a great sire of turf horses. I think it's safe to assume Sunday Silence would have handled the turf well also. Easy Goer ran two mediocre races over muddy Churchill Downs tracks, when 2nd in the Ky Derby and 2nd in the BC Juvie.

Easy Goer was the better horse on speed figures...routinely running Beyers in the 120-to-126 range. He was just a bad match-up for Sunday Silence though. And, Sunday Silence also happened to be a spectacular speed figure horse himself...though not quite as fast as Easy Goer was.

i especially agree with your 2nd and 4th points. sunday silence was a monster on the far turn and it didn't seem to matter what track he was running on. i've no doubt that he would've been a superstar on the turf as well.