1989 Kentucky Derby

115th Kentucky Derby

Kentucky Derby
Grade I stakes race
Location	Churchill Downs
Date	May 6, 1989
Winning horse	Sunday Silence
Jockey	Pat Valenzuela
Trainer	Charles E. Whittingham
Owner	Hancock III, Gaillard & Whittingham
Conditions	Muddy
Surface	Dirt
Attendance	122,653
←  1988 1990  →

The 1989 Kentucky Derby was the 115th running of the Kentucky Derby. The race took place on May 6, 1989, ^[1] with 122,653 people in attendance. ^[2] The race took place on a track that was listed as muddy but was drying out very well. The time on the 1+1⁄4-mile was the slowest time since Tim Tam rode to victory at the same length at also the same time of 2:05. Sunday Silence took the win with a 2 1/2 length victory over the favorite to win, Easy Goer. ^[3]

Full results

Finished	Post	Horse	Jockey	Trainer	Owner	Time / behind
1st	10	Sunday Silence	Pat Valenzuela	Charlie Whittingham	Hancock III, Gaillard & Whittingham	2:05
2nd	13	Easy Goer	Pat Day	Claude R. McGaughey III	Ogden Phipps
3rd	12	Awe Inspiring	Craig Perret	Claude R. McGaughey III	Ogden Mills Phipps
4th	7	Dansil	Larry Snyder	Frank L. Brothers	John A. Franks
5th	4	Hawkster	Marco Castaneda	Ron McAnally	Mr. & Mrs. J. S. Meredith
6th	15	Northern Wolf	Clarence Ladner III	Hank Allen	Deep Silver Stable
7th	11	Irish Actor	Don Howard	LeRoy Jolley	Tiffany Farms
8th	6	Houston	Laffit Pincay Jr.	D. Wayne Lukas	Beal, French Jr. & Lukas
9th	9	Triple Buck	José A. Santos	John J. Lenzini Jr.	Gary Marano
10th	5	Shy Tom	Chris Antley	D. Wayne Lukas	Overbrook Farm
11th	14	Wind Splitter	Donnie Miller Jr.	Dale Capuano	Randall Williams Jr.
12th	2	Flying Continental	Corey Black	Jay M. Robbins	Jack Kent Cooke
13th	1	Clever Trevor	Don Pettinger	Donnie K. Von Hemel	Cheri & Don McNeill
14th	8	Faultless Ensign	Chris DeCarlo	Benjamin W. Perkins Jr.	Anthony Tornettam et al.
15th	3	Western Playboy	Randy Romero	Harvey L. Vanier	Nancy Vanier & Raymond Roncari

Purse winnings

Place	Horse	Purse Winnings	Total Purse Amount
1st	Sunday Silence	$574,200	$749,200

Payout

Post	Horse	Win	Place	Show
10	Sunday Silence	US$8.20	3.00	3.60
2b	Easy Goer		2.60	3.40
2	Awe Inspiring			3.40

• $2 Exacta: (10–2) Paid $15.20 ^[4]

Sunday Silence

Sunday Silence was an unlikely winner as a youngster, but he grew into a true champion. He sported crooked hind legs and barely survived a virus as a weanling. ^[5] Sunday Silence was not an attractive youngster and his owner, Arthur B. Hancock III, attempted to sell him at the 1987 Keeneland yearling sale. Hancock ended up buying the colt back for only $17,000. ^[6] Sunday Silence completed his two-year-old season with only one victory from three starts and was described as looking like a "skinny teenager" from Hancock. Between two and three years old, the colt matured and began his three-year-old season as a front runner for the Kentucky Derby. ^[7] Sunday Silence won both the San Felipe Stakes and the Santa Anita Derby and anticipation built for the confrontation between Sunday Silence and his competition for the Kentucky Derby, Easy Goer. Sunday Silence's win at the Derby was largely attributed to the muddy track, which Easy Goer was claimed to have not liked. Sunday Silence bested Easy Goer by a win of 2 1/2 lengths.

References

1. Kentucky Derby History, 1989
2. "Derby & Oaks Attendance Since 1980" (PDF). Retrieved 2020-01-24.
3. "Figure 4—figure supplement 2. Experiment 2: filtered skin conductance traces (band-pass at 0.0159–2 Hz, 1st order Butterworth), averaged across all trials within participant (n = 20, excluded participants not shown, shaded region represent SEM across all participants)". doi: 10.7554/elife.31949.014 .{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
4. 1989 Kentucky Derby Results Tables Archived 2010-07-14 at the Wayback Machine
5. "Sunday Silence: The Star No One Wanted". www.americasbestracing.net. Retrieved 2021-11-16.
6. "Sunday Silence: The Star No One Wanted". www.americasbestracing.net. Retrieved 2021-11-16.
7. "Sunday Silence: The Star No One Wanted". www.americasbestracing.net. Retrieved 2021-11-16.