Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Sunday Silence line delivers for Japan in Breeders’ Cup
Sunday Silence, winner of the 1989 Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Breeders’ Cup Classic, spent his entire stud career in Japan. There, he found a perfectly complementary gene pool and became a breed-shaping sire whose impact in his adopted country cannot be overstated.
More than three decades following his Classic score, and nearly two decades after his death in 2002, Sunday Silence’s influence continues unabated through his descendants. His influence was seen on Saturday, as his sireline was responsible for a long-sought prize, the first victories by Japanese-based horses in Breeders’ Cup races.
Loves Only You was up between horses for a dramatic half-length victory in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf, securing the historic first win for Japan. Three races later, Marche Lorraine scored a shocking upset in the Distaff, flying late for a nose victory that returned $101.80. The two mares are by a pair of Japanese Triple Crown winners in Deep Impact and Orfevre, respectively.
Deep Impact, who died in 2019, was a son of Sunday Silence, and followed his sireas a multiple leading sire in Japan. Orfevre, who has been standing at stud since 2014, is by the late Stay Gold, another son of Sunday Silence.
Niarchos Family honored
The Niarchos Family was honored with the 2021 Longines and IFHA International Award of Merit on Friday at the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar. Fittingly, their brilliant runner Miesque, who made Breeders’ Cup history during her own career, also showed her influence during this race weekend in California.
The Award of Merit, launched in 2013, honors those who make lifelong contributions to Thoroughbred racing. The award was accepted by Maria NiarchosGouazé – daughter of the late Greek shipping magnate and stable founder Stavros Niarchos – on behalf of her family, which has bred and/or campaigned more than 125 Grade/Group 1 winners worldwide.
“On behalf of my brothers and myself, I would like to thank Longines, the IFHA, the Breeders’ Cup, and The Jockey Club for this great honor,” Niarchos-Gouazé said in a press release. “I would also like to thank all of our horses, the jockeys who mainly found the winning post, our trainers, our veterinarians and farriers, and all of the individuals who have worked on the studs and in our trainers’ yards.
“In particular, I would like to thank my home team, Alan Cooper and Karen Clark, who have been with us since inception, for their dedication and loyalty, and also Jamie McCalmont and Bill Oppenheim, and those who have worked alongside them,” Niarchos-Gouazé continued.
“Lastly, and the most deserving of all, I would like to thank my father, Stavros, for his vision.”
The Niarchos family has won seven Breeders’ Cup races, six of them with homebreds, beginning with Miesque in the 1987 and 1988 editions of the Mile. Joining her are 1997 Mile winner Spinning World, 2002 Mile winner Domedriver, 2003 Mile winner Six Perfections, 2014 Mile winner Karakontie, and 2014 Turf winner Main Sequence.
Miesque, who was the first horse to win back-to-back Breeders’ Cup races, went on to a decorated career as a broodmare, producing French 2000 Guineas winner and prominent sire Kingmambo, French Oaks winner and stakes producer East of the Moon, Group 3 winners Mingun and Miesque’s Son, and stakes winner Moon Is Up. Her descendants are responsible for fellow Mile winner Karakontie, and Miesque’s Son is the sire of 2006 Mile winner Miesque’s Approval.
Fittingly, Miesque’s descendants are now responsible for more Breeders’ Cup history, as she is the great-granddam of 2021 Filly and Mare Turf winner Loves Only You, who secured the first victory for a Japanese-based horse. Loves Only You is one of three stakes winners out of the unraced Storm Cat mare Loves Only Me, who also produced Group 1 Dubai Turf winner Real Steel. Loves Only Me is out of Miesque’s daughter Monevassia, a Mr. Prospector mare who also produced European champion Rumplestiltskin.
Big Breeders’ Cup for Dubawi
Dubawi became the first sire to have three offspring win Breeders’ Cup races in a single year, also fueling a historic weekend for Godolphin, the owner and breeder of all three victors.
Dubawi, the sire of one previous Breeders’ Cup winner in 2017 Filly and Mare Turf heroine Wuheida, is based at Dalham Hall Stud in Newmarket, England, for Sheikh Mohammed’s international Godolphin operation, which stands its stallions under the Darley brand.
Dubawi is the sire of Juvenile Turf winner Modern Games, Mile winner Space Blues – who is set to join his sire at stud in 2022 – and Turf winner Yibir. All three race as homebreds for Godolphin, making the operation the first owner and breeder to win three races in a single Breeders’ Cup event.
More Than Ready leads all sires with seven Breeders’ Cup victories overall. He has twice been represented by two winners on a single Breeders’ Cup weekend, in 2010 and 2017. Eleven other sires have been represented by a pair of Breeders’ Cup winners at a single event – Awesome Again (2004), Chester House (2008), City Zip (2014), Cox’s Ridge (1985), Into Mischief (2020), Kris S. (1993), Medaglia d’Oro (2017), Mizzen Mast (2012), Nureyev (1987), Sadler’s Wells (2003), and Smart Strike (2007).