1. In March of 1988, a black Thoroughbred colt, with a white squiggle running down his face, became a two-time loser in the marketplace, first at a Kentucky sale and second at California's top Thoroughbred auction. Therw was a minimum price set at $50,000. That colt was named Sunday Silence.
2. After the auction in California the colt's owner, Arthur Hancock, loaded the horse into a van for the trip back to Kentucky. The driver died en route of a heart attack, and the van ran off of a Texas highway. Sunday Silence was patched up by a local veterinarian and sent home two weeks later.
3. Charles Edward Whittingham, the dean of America's Thoroughbred racehorse trainers, was offered half-interest in the colt for $25,000. He took is, sight unseen, and when he met the colt for the first time, he was less than impressed.
4. He had the hardened eye of a juvinile delinquent, his hocks almost scraping together, and Sunday Silence was light on muscle in the back end, and his chest deep but narrow. All Whittingham could say was, "Sometimes they surprise you. Let's see what he looks like after we've had him awhile."
5. Sunday Silence was willful and uncompromising from the start, and always full of vinegar, whether exercising or in his stall.
6. Prancing and bucking instead of walking, his trainer Pam Mabes would fight for control until Whittingham yelled for her to just let Sunday Silence go. She soon discovered that the key was keeping the horse in constant motion -- he could never stand completely still!
7. The harder Sunday worked, the better he acted, and what he wanted to do was run, and do that as fast as he could.
8. Everyone at the barn started referring to the colt as "Sunday stop it!" due to his protests when Mabes geared down. He would dip his head between his legs and buck to a stop, nearly throwing her from the saddle as she would cry, "Sunday stop it!"
9. Recognizing raw potential in Sunday, Whittingham allowed Sunday special latitude by telling his crew to be patient, firm and kind, and that this colt could be worth the trouble.
10. Making his start on the East Coast by emerging from two major stake races at New York's Belmont Park, Easy Goer was a heavy favorite by the end of 1988.
11. Barely a blip on the racing radar of the West Coast, Sunday lost his first race, won the next and finished second in his final race of 1988.
12. In his first race of 1989, Sunday Silence raced to victory over 6 undistinguished opponents. With this second victory, his owner Arthur Hancock received a flood of offers for his share in the colt (He didn't sell.)
13. Within an hour and a half, Easy Goer finished thirteen lengths ahead of his clsoest competitor at Aqueduct Race Course on Long Island for the mile, and Sunday Silence won the Santa Anna Derby on the West Coast by 11 lengths in a mile and an eighth course.
14. At Churchill Downs, the leading-man handsome Easy Goer was set to meet the beguiling, bad boy Sunday Silence for the Kentucky Derby.
15. With Easy Goer seeming mature beyond his years and impressing mroe and more with each victory, he was the favorite over Sunday Silence.
16. Sunday Silence was expected to be in front of Easy Goer in the early stages of the race, and he was tracking the pacesetters while Easy Goer, saving his best for last, was galloping along the middle of the pack.
17. When Easy Goer started making up ground on Sunday Silence, a spark of hidden energy ignited within Sunday and he spurted away keeping Easy Goer behind him.
18. Startled by his jockey's whip, Sunday began swerving, appearing to nearly give the race away. Sunday Silence beat Easy Goer by 2 1/2 lengths, his erratic self to the end.
19. Sunday Silence and Easy Goer faced each other gain three mroe times. First in the Baltimore's Preakness Stakes, Sunday narrowly beating Easy Goer. Second at New York's Belmont Stakes, Easy Goer thwarting Sunday's bid for the Triple Crown. And third, at the world's richest race, the Breder's Cup Classic, Sunday beat Easy Goer for one final decisive time.

More Bits 'N' Pieces about real horses in the next newsletter.

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