Remembering ... Housebuster

Driving on Route 3 to the Meadowlands that evening, I had no idea what I was about to see. Juvenile stakes are fun for just that reason, and the 1989 Morven Stakes would be a wonderful example of a star being born. Housebuster was sired by Mt. Livermore out of the Great Above mare, Big Dreams, and in his first two starts had been 3rd and then 1st in two maiden races on sloppy Meadowlands’ tracks. One of several youngsters in the field, Housebuster was to get a fast track for the first time. The result was positively explosive. Setting blazing fractions, Housebuster hit the stretch in front and widened his advantage from there to hit the wire best by seven lengths. It was but a small stakes at the Meadowlands, but in my mind, this one, was the real deal. It would then come as no surprise when Housebuster would take Florida by storm as the 1990 racing season began. The now three-year-old had been transferred to trainer Jimmy Croll after be trained by Ronald Benshoff for his three juvenile starts. Bred in Kentucky by Blanche P. Levy, Housebuster was owned by her son, Robert. He began in January, and went on a stakes winning skein that has been seldom seen since. He won the Spectacular Bid by 2 ¼, the Hutcheson by 3, and then the Swale by 1. In the Swale he defeated one of the early Kentucky Derby favorites, Summer Squall, and by sweeping the sprint stakes at Gulfstream, the name Housebuster was now on the national map. From Florida, the traveling road show headed to Kentucky and that is where the fun really began. In Keeneland’s Lafayette Stakes, Housebuster took things to a whole new impressive level. A small field lined up against the new star, and he in turn treated them badly, winning off by 11 lengths. It was on to the Twin Spires and Churchill Downs for a run in the prestigious Derby Trial. The Trial would be the Croll-trained sophomore’s first attempt at a flat mile. No problemo, as Housebuster proved strong down the lane to pull clear from his competition by 5 ¼ widening lengths. A star in Kentucky, his connections wisely had no illusions of grandeur, and kept their one-turn colt away from the powerful calling of the Triple Crown. No Derby for this guy, but he was shipped to New York for a possibly even bigger challenge. Fresh off a facile win in the Withers, his seventh straight stakes score, Housebuster entered the 1990 Met Mile, for a showdown against the superstar of New York racing, Easy Goer. Also in the field was a rapidly improving Californian named Criminal Type who was coming off a big win in the Pimlico Special. With regular rider, Craig Perret in the irons, Housebuster would look his top older rivals in the eye and give them everything they could possibly want. He set all the pace, and laid down blazing fractions at that. He fought the length of the stretch with Five-year-old Criminal Type breathing down his neck, before finally succumbing in the final strides. He finished a game second, defeated by a neck, and easily beating the great Easy Goer with eventual 1991 Horse of the Year, Black Tie Affair, much farther back. Criminal Type would go on to be named Horse of the Year that year, but I was even more impressed with the young Housebuster. In defeat, Housebuster had proven himself as one of the best horses in the nation. He would continue his amazing three-year-old season with three more overpowering victories, culminating with the Jerome Handicap in which the dark bay routed his opposition by 13 devastating lengths, with the good colt Citidancer finishing a distant second. He had certainly come a long way since I first saw him in in the Morven Stakes less than a year earlier. In his first ten races of 1990, Housebuster had nine easy wins, all stakes, with the game and narrow defeat in the Met Mile being his only blemish. The Vosburgh at Belmont would be next, but Housebuster sustained injuries in the race which he finished up the track, putting an end to his amazing season. I recall that prior to the Vosburgh, Housebuster was my choice for Horse of the Year despite being a sophomore sprinter. After the Vosburgh, that idea was no longer reality, but it goes to show just how good the young colt was. Housebuster began his older career by not being able to hold off possibly the top two handicap horses in the nation in Unbridled and Black Tie Affair in a pair of seven furlong stakes. He quickly turned it around with an impressive victory over the latter, who would be ultimately named Horse of the Year, in Aqueduct’s Carter Handicap. Soon after, Housebuster would be assigned one of his most important tests. In the Summer of 1991, the DeFrancis Dash was billed as a dual between the last two Sprint Champions. Housebuster would face the defending Breeders’ Cup Sprint winning filly, Safely Kept. It would be no contest. In fairness to the filly, Safely Kept would have her chances compromised by a slow break, but it proved to be another dominating performance for the four-year-old colt. Housebuster would win off by five lengths and be well on his way to another championship. Housebuster, who had missed the Breeders' Cup Sprint at Belmont the year before because of an injury, would finally get his BC chance in his final career start. Coming off wins in the DeFrancis, Forego, and Vosburgh, he was sent off as an overwhelming 2-5 favorite in the 11 horse field which included some of the best sprinters in the world. Bettors were so confident in his ability that no other horse in the field was bet below 8.8-1. Unfortunately, the race did not go well. Housebuster would contest through suicidal fractions including a :21 first quarter. He was ready to pounce as the horses straightened out, and even at the 3/16 pole it looked like the champion had a big shot to win. It was not to be. Housebuster shortened stride just as he got to the lead and dropped back quickly as the European invader Sheikh Albadou zoomed right by for an easy win. The great sprinter checked in ninth. After the race it was revealed that the whip of the rider of the front runner had bothered Housebuster in the stretch, and much worse yet, the sensational sprinter had injured his left front leg leaving the gate. He had gamely contested a blazing pace for five furlongs on three good legs. Housebuster would be retired soon after the disappointment. All in all Housebuster won 15 of his lifetime 22 starts and as noted, many of his wins came by wide margins. He earned $1,229,696 while never racing on anything but dirt, nor ever running beyond one mile. He captured 14 stakes, and 11 of them were graded. After retirement, Housebuster became a vagabond and successful sire, with Hong Kong Horse of the Year and twice champion miler Electronic Unicorn being the best. Housebuster died in 2005 at the age of 18 after standing stud all over the world. His second career as a stallion brought him from Kentucky to Japan to New Zealand to Argentina and finally to West Virginia, where he passed away. Can a horse who never had any Breeders’ Cup success still be considered a great horse? Housebuster is proof that the answer is yes. His outstanding record and his flare in winning made him the repeat winner of the Eclipse Award as the outstanding sprinter in 1990 and 1991. Housebuster is the only horse to do that since the great filly Ta Wee turned the trick back in 1970. She may have been a few years before my time, but I was lucky enough to follow Housebuster’s outstanding career from the beginning. I remember you Housebuster.

The Belmont List

With the Test of Champions just around the corner, I decided to have a little fun with the classic race. There have been 31 winners of the Belmont Stakes since Affirmed outgamed Alydar to become the eleventh winner of the Triple Crown. Today I took on the unenviable task of ranking them 1 through 31. The basis for the ranking was on their overall racing career and a blending of excellence and accomplishments. Have fun and please let me know where you think I may have gone astray...  1. Easy Goer 20-14-5-1  2. Point Given 13-9-3-0  3. Risen Star 11-8-2-1  4. A.P. Indy 11-8-0-1  5. Afleet Alex 12-8-2-1  6. Conquistador Cielo 13-9-0-2  7. Swale 14-9-2-2  8. Coastal 14-8-1-3  9. Thunder Gulch 16-9-2-2 10. Rags to Riches 7-5-1-0 11. Bet Twice 26-10-6-4 12. Empire Maker 8-4-3-1 13. Hansel 14-7-2-3 14. Lemon Drop Kid 24-10-3-3 15. Victory Gallop 17-9-5-1 16. Summer Bird 8-4-1-1 17. Tabasco Cat 18-8-3-2 18. Birdstone 9-5-0-0 19. Touch Gold 15-6-3-1 20. Crème Fraiche 64-17-12-13 21. Danzig Connection 17-6-5-4 22. Temperance Hill 31-11-4-2 23. Colonial Affair 20-7-4-3 24. Caveat 21-6-4-3 25. Go and Go 15-6-0-2 26. Summing 23-7-5-1 27. Editor’s Note 31-6-4-3 28. Jazil 11-2-5-0 29. Sarava 17-3-3-0 30. Commendable 12-2-1-1 31. Da’ Tara 17-2-5-2

Remembering ... Sunday Silence

Tom Durkin‘s words still freshly echo between my ears whenever the thought of Sunday Silence or Easy Goer comes to mind. “Easy Goer with one final acceleration and Sunday Silence holds on!!!” Everything was on the line and the two magnificent horses, forever joined in history, responded with a racing epic that day at Gulfstream Park. Beating a great horse like Easy Goer for the third time in four tries was not easy, but from a very young age things were not easy for the champion. After surviving a life threatening virus as a weanling at Stone Farm in Paris, Kentucky, Sunday Silence grew into a long-legged, narrow frame. Cow-hocked, he impressed no one with his conformation. Sunday Silence was well bred, by Halo out of Wishing Well. Halo had already produced champions Devil’s Bag and Glorious Song and a Derby winner in Sunny’s Halo. Wishing Well was a multiple stakes winning daughter of Understanding. The solid breeding was overshadowed though by the looks of the gangly youngster. Twice offered for sale at auction, he attracted no buyers even with very modest reserve prices, leaving owner and breeder Arthur Hancock III no choice but to retain the colt to race. Adding to the adversity of his childhood, Sunday Silence was involved in an awful accident. As a 2-year-old, Sunday Silence was being transported by van when the driver had a heart attack. The van overturned and nearly ended the young colt’s life. Sunday Silence would endure. Veteran trainer Charlie Whittingham, liked what he saw once the colt began his training. He did not rush the leggy colt and brought the horse to the races for the first time late in his juvenile season. After a narrow defeat in his opening race, Sunday Silence rebounded with a ten length score in his second race. He continued to develop and things all came together in the Spring. He demolished the field in the Santa Anita Derby in April and went to the Kentucky Derby as a clear second choice. On May 6, 1989 Sunday Silence shocked the racing world as he galloped home 2 ½ lengths in front of the most highly regarded Derby favorite in ten years. It was not a straight course down the stretch of the Churchill Downs mud, but it was a triumphant one for the horse no one wanted. Baltimore would soon host Sunday Silence vs. Easy Goer II The Preakness was one of the greatest races ever run on an American racetrack. It brought together Sunday Silence fresh off his Kentucky Derby win and his blueblood rival, Easy Goer who had finished second in the Derby as a heavy favorite. Before Louisville, it was well established that the powerful chestnut son of Alydar was a special horse, but with his win in the Derby, Sunday Silence had emerged as a second superstar from the 1986 foal crop. The Preakness would be a showdown between the East Coast establishment and the West Coast upstart. The world was watching. Easy Goer was once again made the favorite, but this time the odds were much closer. Odds make little difference to the horses and the race was on. Pat Day, careful not to give Sunday Silence too much room for comfort, made a big move on the turn to go by his rival. The black horse was squeezed and was suddenly two lengths behind. Pat Valenzuela swung his charge to the outside and then something magical happened. Sunday Silence, using perhaps his greatest racing asset, an electrifying burst of speed, pounced like a cat on a mouse and was abreast of Easy Goer like a shot. The race was on. The entire Pimlico stretch became a racing battleground for two horses that were too good to lose. The only other time I have ever witnessed such an intense display was in the Affirmed - Alydar Belmont Stakes of 1978. The horses turned their heads slightly so that they could look at each other eyeball to eyeball as their riders vigorously urged their talented runners on. Sunday Silence on the outside Easy Goer on the inside. Neither horse had one iota of give up, it was racing perfection incapsulated within a quarter of a mile. Easy Goer fought on gamely from the rail and gained a nose advantage in the stretch, but in the end, Sunday Silence edged in front by a whisker. Watching this race, was proof that horse racing is the purest form of athletic competition. On to New York they would go. The Triple Crown was not to be, as the powerful Easy Goer relished the 1 ½ mile distance, the sandy surface, and the sweeping turns of Belmont Park. His great rival had his day in the sun with an easy victory over my hero in the Belmont Stakes. The nation would again have no Triple Crown winner, but the rivalry between Sunday Silence and Easy Goer was flourishing. The 1989 Breeders’ Cup Classic would bring these racing titans together for a final time. Since the Triple Crown, Easy Goer was a dominating force in the New York racing scene. Sunday Silence was lightly raced, but was coming off a rousing win in Louisiana. With a win, either horse would win the three-year-old championship and the Horse of the Year title. Both horses were treated as superstars by their throngs of fans in South Florida. The greatest match-up in Breeders‘ Cup history lived up to the expectations. Sunday Silence took his familiar stalking position with Easy Goer a little farther back. Pat Day made the first move, rushing up to join his rival on the backstretch. It was Sunday‘s Silence‘s turn to respond and respond he did. Displaying the incredible acceleration that he was blessed with, Sunday Silence spurted away from the Phipps runner and carried himself to a clear lead in late stretch. Then it was one last run by his great rival… I will let Tom Durkin say it one more time “Easy Goer with one final acceleration and Sunday Silence holds on!!!” Sunday Silence was the 1989 Horse of the Year. In all he won nine times out of fourteen races and never finished worse than second. Besides his three classic wins over Easy Goer, Sunday Silence won the Super Derby by six lengths and the Santa Anita Derby by eleven lengths. He earned just a shade under five million dollars and was quickly ushered into Racing’s Hall of Fame at first opportunity. For all his racing accomplishments, Sunday Silence would still meet doubters when it was time for syndication. For a final time, American breeders did not believe in Sunday Silence, and he was sent to stud in Japan. Zenya Yoshida saw the opportunity through the indifference in the United States and stood Sunday Silence his entire stud career. It can not be overstated what Sunday Silence meant to the Thoroughbred breeding industry in Japan since he began his stud career there in 1991. His complete dominance as a sire in Japan is best described by the words of my friend living in Japan and noted Thoroughbred photographer, Kate Hunter “Sunday Silence did for the Japanese thoroughbred what Eclipse did for English Thoroughbreds. Every horse will eventually find itself crossed with Sunday Silence in Japan. He took Japanese Thoroughbreds to a new level, where they now can compete successfully with the rest of the world.” To this day and despite his relatively short career at stud, Sunday Silence’s progeny have earned more money worldwide than those of any other sire in history. On Sunday, August 19, 2002 Sunday Silence passed away at Shadai Stallion Station in Japan's Hokkaido. The great horse died of heart failure after a long battle with debilitating laminitis. Infection had spread to his leg causing laminitis and only the heart and the will of a true champion allowed him to survive and fight for life for more than three months. In the end the infirmity got the best of the black stallion. His many caretakers at the breeding farm said he found some relief from his pain near the end. Sunday Silence now rests in peace at Shadai Stallion Station. News of his failing health and finally his death at the young age of 16 years touched horse fans throughout the world. I know it touched me, I loved Sunday Silence. It still touches me, for now I am just trying to get down the words through all of these tears. I remember you … Sunday Silence.