What’s in a (Race) Name? The Stunning Rallies of Silky Sullivan

Legends
Silky Sullivan with Bill Shoemaker aboard wins the Santa Anita Derby on March 8, 1958. (BloodHorse Library)

His rallies from the back of the pack were breathtaking; in fact, they defied logic. Sixty years after his late-running exploits captured the attention of racing fans across the nation, the name “Silky Sullivan” is still brought to the forefront whenever a horse closes from far back to win a race.

But, of course, there will never be another horse quite like Silky Sullivan, because Silky Sullivan’s feats were Herculean in proportion and the stuff legends are made of.

Born in 1955, Silky Sullivan knew of only one way to race, and he followed this protocol whenever he ran. At the start of the race, Silky Sullivan — in no rush to get going — would drop back to last place, often with a large gap separating him from the rest of the field. There he would stay until more than halfway through the race, when he would finally lengthen his stride and swoop around the field. Sometimes he would win, sometimes he would fall short, but he always came running.

Silky Sullivan winning Roy Campenlla Purse in 1959. (BloodHorse Library)

At first, Silky Sullivan’s feats were grounded by some semblance of feasibility. He broke his maiden by closing from 8 ¼ lengths behind the leaders. Two starts later, he won an allowance race after coming from 12 lengths back.

Apparently, Silky Sullivan wasn’t content with late runs that generated mere excitement; clearly, they needed to be more dramatic and heart-pounding. As if daring to go where no horse had gone before, Silky Sullivan started pushing the boundaries, dropping farther and farther behind every time he ran. He closed from 14 lengths back to finish third in the Berkley Handicap. He won an allowance race from 17 lengths off the pace. A week later, he put a feather in his cap by winning the Golden Gate Futurity after spotting the leaders an astonishing 27 lengths!

Oh, but Silky Sullivan wasn’t done yet. In January, the newly turned 3-year-old won an allowance race from 25 lengths behind, cutting the finish close to prevail by a neck. In the California Breeders’ Champion Stakes, he could only finish second by a neck, but that was after dropping 32 lengths off the pace and making up 14 lengths in the final eighth of a mile!

But his greatest moment — the one that has become legendary in racing history — came when Silky Sullivan cut back in distance to a mere 6 ½ furlongs to contest an allowance race at Santa Anita. At this sprint distance, it would have been wise for Silky Sullivan to stay closer to the leaders, to give him a fighting chance at catching them in the homestretch.

Instead, Silky Sullivan fell 41 lengths off the pace in the first quarter-mile. As if to prove, once and for all, that he was unaffected by the laws and standards of racing, Silky Sullivan came flying down the homestretch like a cannonball to win by a half-length. To put this in perspective, 41 lengths equates to 328 feet, or almost exactly a sixteenth of a mile!

Paul Lowry, covering the race in the Feb. 26, 1958 edition of the Los Angeles Times, wrote: “Silky Sullivan was so far out of it on the backstretch that chart caller Al Willig of the [Daily] Racing Form had a tough time spotting the lengths he was behind the leaders and the horse closest to him. It took a study of the movies to disclose the actual distances.”

That performance was arguably the pinnacle of Silky Sullivan’s career, although in his next start he did come from 26 lengths behind to win the Santa Anita Derby in decisive fashion.

Sent off as the co-favorite in the 1958 Kentucky Derby, a special split-screen broadcast was devised so that television viewers could keep an eye on the late-running colt, but Silky Sullivan failed to unleash his bold run and finished 12th. He was similarly beaten in the Preakness Stakes, though a return to California did him good and he won five more races before retiring in 1959.

Given that some of Silky Sullivan’s greatest moments came at Golden Gate Fields in Northern California, that track honors the sensational California-bred colt with a race that bears his name: the $100,000 Silky Sullivan Stakes, scheduled to be run on April 30.

Let’s step back into history and recall a few other prominent horses that have upcoming races named in their honor ...

Elusive Quality Stakes at Belmont Park

At his best, Elusive Quality was fast — very fast. So fast that he won the Grade 3 Poker Handicap in 1998 by six lengths while running a mile in 1:31.63, a world record at the time. And although he never won a Grade 1 race, his brilliant speed and his proficiency on both dirt and turf earned him a chance at stud, where he has become an elite stallion in North America, topping the BloodHorse general sire list in 2004. He is perhaps best known as the sire of champion Smarty Jones, who fell just a length short of winning the Triple Crown, but Elusive Quality has also sired Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Raven’s Pass, Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint winner Maryfield, and the multiple Grade 1 winner Quality Road.

Powder Break Stakes at Gulfstream Park

The accomplished mare Powder Break is proof that slow and steady wins the race. Although she lost the first 11 races of her career — most of them low-level claiming races — Powder Break slowly but steadily improved with age, experience, extra distance and a switch to turf. In 1983, she was a claimer. In 1984, she was good enough to win a very small stakes race. By 1985, she had reached the rank of Grade 2 stakes winner, and in 1986 — her final season of racing — Powder Break won the Grade 1 Pan American Handicap, a 1 ½-mile turf race against males, at Gulfstream Park. Now that’s a success story!

William Walker Stakes at Churchill Downs

William Walker was an African-American jockey who rode with great success at Churchill Downs, competing in the inaugural Kentucky Derby when just 15 years old and winning the race two years later aboard Baden-Baden. All told, Walker won six race meets (four in the spring and two in the fall) at Churchill Downs and later become a highly respected authority on Thoroughbred pedigrees.

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