Sun Briar

Sun Briar
	Sun Briar at Court Manor Stud
Sire	Sundridge
Grandsire	Amphion
Dam	Sweet Briar
Damsire	St. Frusquin
Sex	Stallion
Foaled	1915
Country	France
Colour	Bay
Breeder	Marcel Boussac
Owner	Willis Sharpe Kilmer
Trainer	Henry McDaniel
Record	22: 8-4-5
Earnings	$74,355
Major wins
	Great American Stakes (1917); Saratoga Special Stakes (1917); Grand Union Hotel Stakes (1917); Albany Handicap (1917); Hopeful Stakes (1917); Travers Stakes (1918); Delaware Handicap (Saratoga) (1918); Champlain Handicap (1919)
Awards
	American Champion Two-Year-Old Colt (1917); American Champion Older Male Horse (1919)

Last updated February 25, 2019

Sun Briar (foaled 1915 in France) was a Thoroughbred racehorse retrospectively named the American Champion Two-Year-Old Colt of 1917 and the American Champion Older Male Horse of 1919 by writers from The Blood-Horse magazine. He was a son of Sundridge, the 1911 Champion sire in Great Britain who also sired Epsom Derby winner Sunstar. Sun Briar was out of the mare Sweet Briar, the daughter of St. Frusquin, a multiple winner of top-level races including the 1896 British Classic and the 2,000 Guineas Stakes. St. Frusquin was also a leading sire in Great Britain and Ireland in 1903 and the Leading broodmare sire in Great Britain & Ireland in 1924.

France, officially the French Republic, is a country whose territory consists of metropolitan France in Western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The metropolitan area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. It is bordered by Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany to the northeast, Switzerland and Italy to the east, and Andorra and Spain to the south. The overseas territories include French Guiana in South America and several islands in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. The country's 18 integral regions span a combined area of 643,801 square kilometres (248,573 sq mi) and a total population of 67.3 million. France, a sovereign state, is a unitary semi-presidential republic with its capital in Paris, the country's largest city and main cultural and commercial centre. Other major urban areas include Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Lille and Nice.

The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are considered "hot-blooded" horses that are known for their agility, speed, and spirit.

Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic premise – to identify which of two or more horses is the fastest over a set course or distance – has been unchanged since at least classical antiquity.

Career

Two-year-old season

Sun Briar was sent from France to the 1916 Saratoga yearling auction by American bloodstock agent Delbert Reiff, where he was purchased for $6,000 by businessman Willis Sharpe Kilmer. Trained by future Hall of Fame inductee Henry McDaniel,^[1] in his Champion two-year-old season, the colt won five of his nine starts, including the 1917 Saratoga Special ^[2] and Hopeful Stakes.^[3]

Saratoga Race Course is a thoroughbred horse racing track located on Union Avenue in Saratoga Springs, New York, United States, with a capacity of 50,000. Opened in 1863, it is often considered to be the oldest major sporting venue of any kind in the country, but is actually the fourth oldest racetrack in the US.

The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.

Willis Sharpe Kilmer was a newspaperman, horse breeder, and entrepreneur.

Three-year-old season

Not training well in the spring of 1918, Sun Briar did not run in the Kentucky Derby but by mid summer was in peak form. Under regular rider Willie Knapp, he set a North American record of 1:36 1/5 for one mile on dirt over an oval track while winning the Delaware Handicap.^[4] Less than two weeks later, Knapp and Sun Briar won the prestigious Travers Stakes in which he set a new stakes record for a mile and a quarter on dirt.^[5] In a September 1918 race against the clock at Saratoga, Sun Briar ran a mile in 1:34 flat.^[6]

Kentucky Derby American stakes race for Thoroughbreds, part of the Triple Crown

The Kentucky Derby, is a horse race that is held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds at a distance of one and a quarter miles (2.0 km) at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds and fillies 121 pounds.

William J. "Willie" Knapp was an American thoroughbred horse racing Hall of Fame jockey. He was known for racing horses such as Exterminator and Sun Briar. He became the jockey for Exterminator in the 1918 Kentucky Derby. He was expecting to race Sun Briar, an extremely fast colt, but Sun Briar became ill and he had no choice but to race Exterminator, Sun Briar's training horse. However, Exterminator won the Derby and Knapp became his lifelong jockey.

North America is a continent entirely within the Northern Hemisphere and almost all within the Western Hemisphere; it is also considered by some to be a northern subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the west and south by the Pacific Ocean, and to the southeast by South America and the Caribbean Sea.

Four-year-old season

Sun Briar came back to race in 1919 after a layoff in the spring, during which time he stood at stud and serviced eighteen mares before returning to race training.^[7] He won the 1919 Champlain Handicap, breaking a Saratoga Race Course track record that had stood for fifteen years.^[8] His time of 1:50 flat for a mile and a furlong stood for thirty-seven years until 1956, when Dedicate beat it by 1/5 of a second.^[9]

Horse breeding human-directed process of selective horse breeding

Horse breeding is reproduction in horses, and particularly the human-directed process of selective breeding of animals, particularly purebred horses of a given breed. Planned matings can be used to produce specifically desired characteristics in domesticated horses. Furthermore, modern breeding management and technologies can increase the rate of conception, a healthy pregnancy, and successful foaling.

A furlong is a measure of distance in imperial units and U.S. customary units equal to one eighth of a mile, equivalent to 660 feet, 220 yards, 40 rods, or 10 chains.

Dedicate (1952–1973) was an American Champion Thoroughbred racehorse.

Stud career

Retired after his 1919 racing campaign, Sun Briar served stud duty at Kilmer's Court Manor Stud in New Market, Virginia. A successful sire,^[10] he produced U. S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee and three-time American Champion Older Male Horse Sun Beau and 1925 U. S. Champion 2-year-old colt Pompey. Among Sun Briar's other successful runners, his son Firethorn won the 1935 and 1937 Jockey Club Gold Cup and the 1936 Suburban Handicap. Sun Egret was a winner of twenty-four races including the 1938 San Pasqual and San Vicente Handicaps plus the 1939 and 1940 Harford Handicap.

New Market is a town in Shenandoah County, Virginia, United States. Founded as a small crossroads town between the north south route 11 and the east west route 211, with crosses the Massanutten mountain at the town's titular gap, New Market remains a small town with a population of 2,146 as of the most recent 2010 U.S. census. New Market is home to the New Market Shockers of the Rockingham County Baseball League, The New Market Rebels of the Valley Baseball League, the Schultz Theatre and School of Performing Arts, and the Shenvalee golf Course. Most notably the town was the location of the last major Confederate victory in the War Between the States.

Sun Beau was an American Thoroughbred Champion Hall of Fame racehorse.

Pompey (1923–1944) was an American Champion Thoroughbred racehorse.

On his death, Sun Briar was buried at Kilmer's Sun Briar Court in Binghamton, New York.^[11]

Binghamton is a city in, and the county seat of, Broome County, New York, United States. It lies in the state's Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the confluence of the Susquehanna and Chenango Rivers. Binghamton is the principal city and cultural center of the Binghamton metropolitan area, home to a quarter million people. The population of the city itself, according to the 2010 census, is 47,376.

Pedigree

Pedigree of Sun Briar
Sire Sundridge	Amphion	Speculum or Roseberry	Vedette or Speculum
		Speculum or Roseberry	Doralice or Ladylike
		Suicide	Hermit
		Suicide	The Ratcatcher's Daughter
	Sierra	Springfield	St. Albans
		Springfield	Viridis
		Sanda	Wenlock
		Sanda	Sandal
Dam Sweet Briar	St. Frusquin	St. Simon	Galopin
		St. Simon	St. Angela
		Isabel	Plebeian
		Isabel	Parma
	Presentation	Orion	Bend Or
		Orion	Shotover
		Dubia	Ayrshire
		Dubia	Miss Middlewick

Related Research Articles

Sir Barton was a chestnut Thoroughbred race horse who in 1919 became the first winner of what would come to be known as the American Triple Crown.

Exterminator was an American Thoroughbred Hall of Fame racehorse, the winner of the 1918 Kentucky Derby and in 1922 of Horse of the Year honors.

Deputy Minister was a Canadian-bred Thoroughbred horse racing Champion. At age two, he won eight out of his nine starts and was voted both the Sovereign and Eclipse Awards for Champion 2-Year-Old in Canada and the United States respectively. He also received Canada's Sovereign Award for Horse of the Year. Although his three-year-old campaign was restricted by injury, Deputy Minister rebounded at age four with several major wins.

Bimelech was a champion Thoroughbred racehorse who won two Triple Crown races and was a Champion at both age two and three. He was ranked #84 among U.S. racehorses of the 20th century. After retiring to stud, he sired 30 stakes winners and his daughters produced 50 stakes winners.

Runaway Groom (1979–2007) was a Canadian Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse.

Peter Pan (1904–1933) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse and sire, bred and raced by prominent horseman, James R. Keene. As winner of the Belmont Stakes, the Brooklyn Derby and the Brighton Handicap, he was later inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. His progeny included many famous American racehorses, including several winners of the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes.

Friar Rock was a Champion American Thoroughbred racehorse. His most important win came in the 1916 Belmont Stakes.

Broomstick (1901–1931) was a Thoroughbred race horse born and bred at the famous McGrathiana Stud in Kentucky, but more importantly, he was one of the great sires of American racing. By another great sire, the Hall of Famer Ben Brush, Broomstick went on after his racing career to produce champion after champion for many years.

Cudgel (1914–1941) was an American two-time Champion Thoroughbred racehorse.

Omar Khayyam (1914–1938) was a British-born Thoroughbred racehorse who was sold as a yearling to an American racing partnership and who became the first foreign-bred horse to win the Kentucky Derby. He was named for the famous Persian mathematician, Omar Khayyam.

Purchase, an American Thoroughbred racehorse, was called "The Adonis of the Turf." Walter Vosburgh, the official handicapper for The Jockey Club as well as a turf historian for many years, wrote: "…one of the most exquisitely beautiful of racehorses…to describe Purchase would be to exhaust the superlative."

Pillory was an American Thoroughbred racehorse.

Campfire (1914–1932) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse.

Kentucky (1861–1875), was a successful American Thoroughbred racehorse who won 21 of his 23 starts, including 20 consecutive wins.

Milkmaid was an American two-time Champion Thoroughbred racehorse. She was bred by J. Hal Woodford at his farm in Bourbon County, Kentucky. Woodford had bred and raced the 1907 Kentucky Derby winner, Pink Star. Out of the mare, Nell Olin, her sire was the British import, Peep o' Day, a son of the great Ayrshire who won the 1888 2,000 Guineas Stakes and Epsom Derby then just missed winning the British Triple Crown when he ran second in the St. Leger Stakes.

Ballot was an American two-time Champion Thoroughbred racehorse and damsire of the very important sire, Bull Lea.

Olambala (1906–1935) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse.

Delhi (1901–1925) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse that won the 1904 Belmont Stakes. He was the top money-winner of 1904 and was consequently named the co-historical American Champion Three-Year-Old Male Horse with Ort Wells. The following year, he was also the historical American Champion Older Male Horse, co-champion once again with Ort Wells. While Delhi did have limited success in the stud, he is not considered to be an influential sire.

References

Sun Briar's pedigree and partial racing stats

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] Henry McDaniel at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame

[2] New York Times - August 12, 1917

[3] New York Times - August 31, 1917

[4] New York Times - August 7, 1918

[5] August 18, 1918

[6] Daily Racing Form, page 2 - June 22, 1943

[7] Daily Racing Form - August 14, 1919 article titled "Sun Briar Superb Type Of Horse"

[8] New York Times - August 10, 1919

[9] Hartford Courant - August 19, 1956

[10] Sun Briar's progeny

[11] Throroughbred Hewritage – Grave Matters