Sunday Silence influence continues with Japanese winners on Dubai World Cup card

Two decades after his death, Sunday Silence is continuing to help his adopted home country of Japan become a force on racetracks around the globe. A U.S. champion, Sunday Silence crossed the globe to become a breed-shaping sire in Japan.

Japanese horses enjoyed breakthough victories on the Breeders’ Cup and the Saudi Cup cards, and won five races (one in a dead heat) on the rich Dubai World Cup program Saturday night at Meydan. Four of the Dubai winners are from the direct male line of Sunday Silence – winner of the 1989 Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Breeders’ Cup Classic – who stood his entire career in Japan until his death in the summer of 2002.

One of the global prizes that Japanese interests have yet to secure is the Kentucky Derby, and Crown Pride will take up that chase after his victory in the Group 2 UAE Derby, which awarded him 100 qualifying points. The colt is by Reach the Crown, who is by Sunday Silence’s son Special Week.

Sunday Silence’s Japanese Triple Crown-winning son Deep Impact, among the sons to succeed their father as a perennial leading sire, was represented by Group 1 Sheema Classic winner Shahryar, while Deep Impact’s son Kizuna sired Group 2 Godolphin Mile winner Bathrat Leon.

:: DRF BREEDING LIVE: Real-time coverage of breeding and sales

Rounding out the quartet, Stay Foolish, by Sunday Silence’s son Stay Gold, won the Group 2 Dubai Gold Cup.

Japan’s fifth winner on the program was Panthalassa, who finished in a dead heat with defending victor Lord North in the Group 1 Dubai Turf. Panthalassa is by Lord Kanaloa, a son of King Kamehameha.

King Kamehameha, a Japanese Derby winner and leading sire who died in 2019, also played a prominent role in his country’s dominance of the evening. The son of Kingmambo is the broodmare sire of both Crown Pride and Stay Foolish.