Easy Goer (1986-1994) was an American Champion Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse, famous for beating 1989 Horse of the Year Sunday Silence in the 1989 Belmont Stakes by a resounding and astonishing 8 lengths. The victory deprived Sunday Silence of the Triple Crown . It was also the second fastest Belmont Stakes after Secretariat's. In the Blood-Horse magazine List of the Top 100 Racehorses of the 20th Century, Easy Goer is ranked #34.

Homebred and owned by Ogden Phipps, Easy Goer was a son of Alydar out of the champion mare Relaxing (by Horse of the Year Buckpasser), and was also the Eclipse Award winner for Champion 2-year-old in 1988. Trained by Shug McGaughey and always ridden by Pat Day, the bright chestnut colt with the white star in the middle of his forehead was a long-striding, massive, powerhouse stalker who won 14 of his 20 races, and placed second five times, including three runner-up finishes to arch-rival Sunday Silence. These three races were the Kentucky Derby,(in which his Jockey Pat Day was quoted as saying, "Easy Goer simply did not handle the race track." Easy Goer also finished second at Churchill Downs in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile the previous year.) The Preakness, where he lost by a nose,(Jockey Pat Day was heavily questioned in reining Easy Goer's head sideways to the right in the stretch), and the Breeders' Cup Classic in 1989 where he lost by an extremely fast closing neck while his last prep race was at the 12 furlong distance, and he was cutting back to the shorter 10 furlong distance of the Breeders' Cup Classic, and going against an extremely well rested and very fresh Sunday Silence who had just run in one race in 90 days and two races in five months. Easy Goer was the favorite in each of the 3 races he was defeated by Sunday Silence. Ironically, Easy Goer was not favored in the only race he defeated Sunday Silence, the 1989 Belmont Stakes. The only race he finished worse than second was the 1990 Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park, where he finished third, beaten by a little more than a length, behind eventual Horse of the Year Criminal Type and two-time sprint champion Housebuster, while carrying considerably more weight than those two. In Easy Goer's entire career, he was never defeated by more than a 2 and a half length margin, a remarkable feat.

At two, he won the Grade I Cowdin Stakes, the Grade I Champagne Stakes in one of the fastest runnings ever, and came in second in the Grade I Breeders' Cup Juvenile. He was named Champion 2-year-old colt and was the early favorite for the Kentucky Derby.

At three he took the Swale Stakes, the Grade II Gotham Stakes (setting the track record of 1:32.2 for eight furlongs and running the fastest mile ever by any three year old thoroughbred in history to this day, 1/5 of a second off of Dr. Fager's world record for the mile), the Grade I Wood Memorial, the Grade I Belmont Stakes, the Grade I Whitney Stakes, the Grade I Travers Stakes (coming extremely close to breaking track records in both the Whitney Stakes and Travers Stakes), the Grade I Woodward Stakes, and the Grade I Jockey Club Gold Cup. In the Whitney, Jockey Club Gold Cup, and Woodward, Easy Goer beat older horses,an extremely remarkable, unusual and rare feat, one of the few modern three year olds to accomplish this feat three times. He was one of the last American-trained horses to win two Grade I races at a mile and a half on dirt (Belmont Stakes and Jockey Club Gold Cup).Easy Goer's 1989 three year old season would go down in history as one of the greatest years that a thoroughbred can have without winning a Championship Award at year's end.

At four, Easy Goer won the Gold Stage Stakes and the Grade I Suburban Handicap. He was third in the Grade I Metropolitan Mile.

Before a leg injury ended his racing days, Easy Goer's racing career earned him $4,873,770.

As A Sire
After his retirement from racing, Easy Goer stood stud at the famed Claiborne Farm in Paris, Kentucky. Easy Goer had the ultimate honor of occupying the number one stall in the number one barn at Claiborne Farm. His stall was previously occupied by Bold Ruler and Secretariat. Only eight years old, and standing at stud, Easy Goer was turned out for exercise one day, and spent the time bucking and racing around his pasture. According to Thomas Swerczek, D.V.M., Ph.D. (a veterinary pathologist at the University of Kentucky) in his 1994 postmortem examination of Easy Goer, that effort caused a sudden, massive allergic reaction.

"Typically what happens is that you give a horse penicillin for four or five days and on the sixth day, he may get a mild case of anaphylactic shock," Swerczek said. "If the horse isn't turned out, he'll go right through it all right, but if you turn him out and he gets to running around, he may drop dead from a subtle type of hypertension from a combination of exercise and the reaction from the penicillin. I've even seen horses given a shot of penicillin and loaded onto a van who dropped dead on the van from the combination of stress and the shot. It has nothing to do with the heart per se, but rather a general reaction that causes pooling of blood due to the anaphylaxis."

Like humans, some horses are acutely allergic to bee stings and experience other allergies.

Upon his untimely death, Easy Goer was buried at Claiborne Farm where many past champion Thoroughbreds are buried, including Secretariat, Buckpasser and Bold Ruler.

At stud, he sired three Grade I winners: the colt Will's Way (who sired the Grade I winner Lion Tamer) and the fillies Furlough (dam of Stakes Winner Happy Hunting) and My Flag . He also sired Grade 2 winner Composer and the mares Relaxing Rhythm, Smooth Charmer and Jetto. My Flag, the product of a mating with the legendary mare Personal Ensign is the dam of champion filly Storm Flag Flying. Personal Ensign (1988 Breeders' Cup Distaff), My Flag (1995 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies), and Storm Flag Flying (2002 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies) were the first three-generation consecutive winners of Breeders' Cup races.

Easy Goer is also proving to be an influential broodmare sire, with Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile and Metropolitan Handicap (Grade I) winner Corinthian, Blue Grass Stakes (Grade I) winner Monba, French 2000 Guineas (Group 1) winner Astronomer Royal, Del Mar Oaks (Grade I) and Gamely Stakes (Grade I) winner Magical Fantasy, promising young sire Mull of Kintyre, the Stakes winners Happy Hunting, Spring Waltz, Navesink River, Desert Hero, Sea Chanter, also Unbridled Jet, Easyfromthegitgo, Easy Grades and the aforementioned Storm Flag Flying among his daughter's offspring.

Easy Goer was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1997. Induction into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame is the ultimate honor any thoroughbred can have in thoroughbred racing.

References

1. Easy Goer's pedigree and photo - http://www.pedigreequery.com/easy+goer
2. Easy Goer's page in the Hall of Fame - http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/horse.asp?ID=62
3. [1] http://www.hitak.com/home/alydar/easygoer.html
4. [2] http://www.jockeysite.com/stories/easygoer.htm
5. Search for Easy Goer articles in the New York Times - http://query.nytimes.com/search/sitesearch?query=easy+goer&n=10&prev=10&frow=20&page=3

Artwork
1. Battle For The 1989 Triple Crown - Canvas - Battle For The 1989 Triple Crown - Sunday Silence & Easy Goer By Fred Stone - Horse Racing Artwork. $295.00 Click Here to Buy Now!

2. Battle For The 1989 Triple Crown - Poster - Battle For The 1989 Triple Crown - Sunday Silence & Easy Goer By Fred Stone - Horse Racing Artwork. $60.00 Click Here to Buy Now!

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