Easy Goer - Rivalry With Sunday Silence

Rivalry With Sunday Silence

Easy Goer was most remembered for his rivalry with Sunday Silence, with a 1–3 record against him. The two first met in the 1989 Kentucky Derby, with Easy Goer installed as the morning-line favorite. The track came up muddy, and Sunday Silence won by 2½ lengths in the slow time of 2:05. Easy Goer's performance was apparently affected by the muddy footing, as his rider Pat Day stated, "Easy Goer simply did not handle the race track and never got out of second gear." Easy Goer had also finished second at Churchill Downs in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile the previous year on a similar muddy track to Is It True, whom he had defeated three times earlier that year. Sunday Silence won the Derby despite not keeping a straight path through the stretch while 2½ lengths clear of the field.

After the Derby, both horses returned to action in the second jewel of the Triple Crown: the Preakness Stakes. Easy Goer broke poorly when he dwelt at the start, breaking in the air, but got within 4 1/2 lengths of the leader and within 3 lengths of his rival with a mile remaining in the 1 3/16 mile race. He was then sent through an extremely fast early move down the backstretch by his jockey, Pat Day. He held a 2-length lead over Sunday Silence with a half mile remaining, but Sunday Silence challenged, with both horses running the fastest mile split in Preakness history in 1:34 1/5. Following a head-to-head duel for the last quarter mile, Sunday Silence won by a nose in a fast final time of 1:53 4/5. Day was criticized for reining Easy Goer's head sideways to the right in deep stretch right before the finish line. Day criticized himself as well and was quoted after the race as saying, "It was absolute rider error" for moving Easy Goer prematurely through a very quick move into a very fast pace from the 3/4 to 1/2 mile pole and gaining the lead with a half mile remaining.

The two horses met again in the final jewel of the Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes, known as "The Test of the Champion" and "Run for the Carnations." Sunday Silence went off odds-on favorite, backed by his two wins against Easy Goer and attempting to win the Triple Crown. This time, Easy Goer defeated his rival by 8 lengths in 2:26. The final time marked the second fastest performance in the history of the race behind only Secretariat's world-record dirt track time of 2:24, seeming to vindicate Easy Goer's reputation as the reigning champion two year old.

The rivalry resumed for the final time in the Breeders' Cup Classic, run on November 4 at 1¼ miles. With champion honors at stake, the race was labeled "Race of the Decade" by the thoroughbred media. Easy Goer was favored by the wagering public, based on his Belmont Stakes win and subsequent four Grade I wins, with three of those wins against older horses, most recently in the 1½ miles Jockey Club Gold Cup. Sunday Silence was second choice, with two races in the 5 months between the Belmont and the Breeders' Cup: a second to eventual Breeders' Cup Turf winner Prized in the Grade II Swaps Stakes on July 23 and a win in the Super Derby on September 24. Sunday Silence's regular rider, Patrick Valenzuela, had recently been suspended for cocaine use. Trainer Charles E. Whittingham assigned the mount to Chris McCarron. Easy Goer, early on rated eleven lengths behind the brisk opening fractions of 22:2/5 and 46:1/5, got near his rival at the half mile point. Sunday Silence then made a charge turning for home and gained the lead in the final furlong, 4 lengths ahead of Easy Goer. Easy Goer closed ground late but lost by a neck to Sunday Silence, who was under strong urging by McCarron, with a final time of 2:00 1/5. The victory assured Sunday Silence Eclipse Award for Outstanding 3-Year-Old Male Horse and Horse of the Year honors for 1989. Though former New York Times racing writer and current Daily Racing Form chairman, Steve Crist, stated in his N.Y. Times article in January, 1990, that had the question on the ballot been, "Who is the better horse, Sunday Silence or Easy Goer?" a lot more than 19 people would have voted against Sunday Silence.