HOLLYWOOD PARK : Two Will Challenge Sunday Silence

Tom Tatham stopped by trainer Charlie Whittingham’s barn at Hollywood Park to see the new, improved Sunday Silence.

Tatham would rather be racing the 4-year-colt than rooting for him, but at least he has the satisfaction of having bred last year’s horse of the year.

Pam Mabes, Sunday Silence’s exercise rider, took Tatham and a friend over to the stall of the near-black colt. Those who remember Sunday Silence from last year are taken aback when they see him now.

“He is awesome looking,” said Arthur Hancock, who after taking Sunday Silence from Tatham kept the young horse when buyers wouldn’t bid more than $32,000 for him at two auctions.

February was the first time Hancock had seen Sunday Silence since his victory over Easy Goer in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Gulfstream Park in November.

“The change in his appearance was unbelievable,” Hancock said. “He’s gained about 100 pounds, and he’s so much broader and stronger. He’s now a powerful-looking horse, similar to the way Easy Goer looks.”

Easy Goer might have won the beauty contests last year, but it was Sunday Silence who won most of the races. Sunday Silence beat Easy Goer in both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness before losing to him in the Belmont, then clinched horse-of-the-year honors by outrunning Easy Goer for the third time and winning the Breeders’ Cup.

Arlington International will put up a $1-million purse Aug. 4 if both Sunday Silence and Easy Goer race. Last Saturday, Easy Goer ran third, behind Criminal Type and Housebuster, in the Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park.

Sunday Silence, who underwent arthroscopic knee surgery for the removal of two bone chips 12 days after the Breeders’ Cup, will make his first appearance this year Sunday, in the $300,000 Californian at 1 1/8 miles. Because of Sunday Silence, the race has drawn only three starters.

Sunday Silence’s opponents--Charlatan III and Stylish Winner--have won one race in 26 starts in the last year and a half.

“My horse has four legs, just like (Sunday Silence),” said Hector Palma, who trains the Chilean-bred Charlatan III. “Look at what happened to Easy Goer, he got beat. People might be saying I’m crazy, but things happen. My horse is improving, and should run a good race, and the other horse is coming back from a layoff.”

Charlatan III, who will be ridden by Julio Garcia, will carry 111 pounds, 15 less than Sunday Silence, whose jockey will be Chris McCarron. Stylish Winner, with Corey Black aboard, will carry 115 pounds under race conditions that determine weight by money won.

Sunday Silence has eight victories and four second-place finishes in 12 starts, with earnings of $4.5 million. He has lost twice at Hollywood Park, in an allowance race against Houston as a 2-year-old and against Prized in last year’s Swaps Stakes.

“He should be just as good as he was,” said McCarron, who has been riding Sunday Silence in his recent workouts. “He’s coming along beautifully. He’s filled out and he’s put on some muscle.”

Whittingham’s plans are for Sunday Silence to run in the $1-million Hollywood Gold Cup on June 24, then the Arlington race and finally a fall campaign that would set him up for another try in the Breeders’ Cup, which this year will be at Easy Goer’s home track, Belmont Park, Oct. 27.

There has been a change in ownership since Sunday Silence last ran, Japanese breeder Zenya Yoshida having joined the colt’s original partners, Hancock, Whittingham and Ernest Gaillard, a retired surgeon from La Jolla.

In March, after unsuccessfully trying to buy Sunday Silence outright, Yoshida bought 25% of the colt for a reported $2.25 million. Hancock now owns 37.5%, Gaillard has 20% and Whittingham owns 17.5%. Whittingham will continue to manage Sunday Silence’s racing career and Hancock will take over once the horse is retired to stud, probably next year.

Horse Racing Notes

There will be only win and $2 exacta betting on the Californian, which has been won by Charlie Whittingham 10 times, most recently with Judge Angelucci in 1987. . . . In Charlatan III’s last start, he went off at 35-1 and lost by a head to Super May in the Mervyn LeRoy Handicap. . . . Stylish Winner was fifth in the race.

Owner Bob Levy, a visitor at Hollywood Park Friday morning, said that Housebuster would be given two months of rest after his second-place finish against Criminal Type in the Metropolitan Handicap. Housebuster’s next start is scheduled to be the seven-furlong King’s Bishop at Saratoga Aug. 18, followed by the Vosburgh at Belmont Park Sept. 29 and the Breeders’ Cup Sprint Oct. 27. “The horse has had a tremendous amount of racing,” Levy said. “Sometimes he wins easy, but he still runs very fast and that takes something out of a horse.”

Trainer Ron McAnally will send Silver Ending, fifth in the Kentucky Derby Derby, to Canterbury Downs for the $300,000 St. Paul Derby June 23. McAnally plans to run Bayakoa at Hollywood June 16 in the Milady Handicap, a race the mare won last year. “We’re still thinking about trying Silver Ending on the grass,” McAnally said. “But the Canterbury race looks like one he’ll have a good chance to win.” McAnally has no race in mind for Hawkster after his second-place finish in the Hollywood Turf Handicap.