Sunday Evening (USA)
February 17, 1947 – c. 1968
Eight Thirty (USA) x Drowsy (USA), by Royal Minstrel (IRE)
Family 9-b
February 17, 1947 – c. 1968
Eight Thirty (USA) x Drowsy (USA), by Royal Minstrel (IRE)
Family 9-b
Sunday Evening was a precocious juvenile but was not quite up to the best of her generation, champion Bed o' Roses. After failing to train on at 3, she retired to the Greentree Stud broodmare band. She produced only one stakes winner during her broodmare career but threw several important producing daughters that helped her to earn the status of a 20th-century foundation mare..
Race record
8 starts, 3 wins, 2 seconds, 1 third, US$23,850
1949:
Assessments
Rated at 115 pounds on the Experimental Free Handicap for American juveniles of 1949, 4 pounds below champion Bed o' Roses but second overall.
As an individual
A gray mare who was officially registered as “chestnut roan,” Sunday Evening was attractive and well-balanced. Her best features were clean front legs, short cannons and a straight, strong hind leg. She tended to pass on a rather light-boned frame that nonetheless had clean, hard bone. She was extremely fractious at the post of the 1950 Delaware Oaks, her final start, leading author John Sparkman to speculate that she either injured herself or had become disinclined to race. According to Greentree Stable trainer John Gaver, Sunday Evening's family tended to have soundness issues but not for obvious conformational reasons.
As a producer
A Reine-de-Course as designated by pedigree analyst Ellen Parker, Sunday Evening produced 10 named foals, of which six started and five won. Her important foals are as follow:
Foaled in Kentucky, Sunday Evening was bred by Greentree Stud and raced in the colors of Greentree Stable. She was trained by John M. Gaver, Sr. She disappears from the record books after having been reported as “not bred” in 1968.
Pedigree notes
Sunday Evening is inbred 4x4 to 1913 English champion 2-year-old male and 1919 English/Irish champion sire The Tetrarch. She is a half sister to multiple stakes winner Mesmer (by Third Degree). Sunday Evening is also a half sister to Aching Back (by War Admiral), dam of 1962 Del Mar Futurity winner Slipped Disc (by Decathlon) and 1969 Summer Stakes winner Admiral's Road (by Lord Quillo) and second dam of 1967 Illinois Derby winner Royal Malabar.
Sunday Evening is out of 1937 Ashland Stakes winner Drowsy, a half sister to juvenile stakes winner Condiment (by Eight Thirty) and to Turnplate (by Bull Lea), second dam of five stakes winners including 1971 Puerto Rican champion older male Ray Jeter and 1955 Hollywood Lassie Stakes winner Miss Todd. The next dam in the tail-female line, Lazy Susan (by St. Germans) is out of the Delhi mare Idle Dell and is, thus, a half sister to 1927 Matron Stakes and Pimlico Futurity winner Glade (by Touch Me Not), dam of 1932 Spinaway Stakes winner Easy Day (by St. Germans) and 1933 Futurity Stakes winner Singing Wood (by Royal Minstrel).
Books and media
Last updated: August 31, 2022
Race record
8 starts, 3 wins, 2 seconds, 1 third, US$23,850
1949:
- Won Spinaway Stakes (USA, 6FD, Saratoga)
- 2nd Schuylerville Stakes (USA, 5.5FD, Saratoga)
Assessments
Rated at 115 pounds on the Experimental Free Handicap for American juveniles of 1949, 4 pounds below champion Bed o' Roses but second overall.
As an individual
A gray mare who was officially registered as “chestnut roan,” Sunday Evening was attractive and well-balanced. Her best features were clean front legs, short cannons and a straight, strong hind leg. She tended to pass on a rather light-boned frame that nonetheless had clean, hard bone. She was extremely fractious at the post of the 1950 Delaware Oaks, her final start, leading author John Sparkman to speculate that she either injured herself or had become disinclined to race. According to Greentree Stable trainer John Gaver, Sunday Evening's family tended to have soundness issues but not for obvious conformational reasons.
As a producer
A Reine-de-Course as designated by pedigree analyst Ellen Parker, Sunday Evening produced 10 named foals, of which six started and five won. Her important foals are as follow:
- Prayer Bell (1954, by Better Self) never raced but is the dam of 1969 American champion 2-year-old male Silent Screen (by Prince John), 1979 Poinsettia Stakes (USA-G3) winner Belladora (by Stage Door Johnny) and multiple stakes winner Prayer Cap (by Thinking Cap). She is the third dam of 2013 Carter Handicap (USA-G1) winner Swagger Jack, 2001 Mercury Sprint (SAF-G1) winner All Will Be Well; Grade 2 winners Tap Dance, Silver Music and Musical Ghost; and Canadian Grade 3 winner With Flair.
- Royal Society (1956, by Royal Charger) also never raced. She is the second dam of 1979 Puerto Rican champion imported 2-year-old male Lazy Eyes and Grade 2 winner Nordic Prince.
- Home by Dark (1959, by Hill Prince) was born deaf and never raced but is the dam of 1968 American champion 3-year-old filly Dark Mirage (by Persian Road II) and stakes winners Gray Mirage (by Bold Bidder) and Bold Impulse (by Bold Bidder). She is the third dam of Indian Skimmer, a champion in England, France and Ireland; of 1987 Irish champion sprinter Bluebird; of multiple Grade 1 winners Timely Writer, Missy's Mirage and Java Gold; and of Grade 1 winners Timely Assertion and Classy Mirage.
- Time for Bed (1961, by Bold Ruler) won the 1964 Test Stakes. She is the second dam of Grade 3 winner Firgie's Jule and the third dam of Grade 3 winners My Girl Jeannie and Bold Wench.
Foaled in Kentucky, Sunday Evening was bred by Greentree Stud and raced in the colors of Greentree Stable. She was trained by John M. Gaver, Sr. She disappears from the record books after having been reported as “not bred” in 1968.
Pedigree notes
Sunday Evening is inbred 4x4 to 1913 English champion 2-year-old male and 1919 English/Irish champion sire The Tetrarch. She is a half sister to multiple stakes winner Mesmer (by Third Degree). Sunday Evening is also a half sister to Aching Back (by War Admiral), dam of 1962 Del Mar Futurity winner Slipped Disc (by Decathlon) and 1969 Summer Stakes winner Admiral's Road (by Lord Quillo) and second dam of 1967 Illinois Derby winner Royal Malabar.
Sunday Evening is out of 1937 Ashland Stakes winner Drowsy, a half sister to juvenile stakes winner Condiment (by Eight Thirty) and to Turnplate (by Bull Lea), second dam of five stakes winners including 1971 Puerto Rican champion older male Ray Jeter and 1955 Hollywood Lassie Stakes winner Miss Todd. The next dam in the tail-female line, Lazy Susan (by St. Germans) is out of the Delhi mare Idle Dell and is, thus, a half sister to 1927 Matron Stakes and Pimlico Futurity winner Glade (by Touch Me Not), dam of 1932 Spinaway Stakes winner Easy Day (by St. Germans) and 1933 Futurity Stakes winner Singing Wood (by Royal Minstrel).
Books and media
- Sunday Evening is one of 22 broodmares profiled in Edward Bowen's Matriarchs II: More Great Mares of Modern Times (2008, Blood-Horse Publications).
- Sunday Evening is profiled in Chapter 6 of John Sparkman's Foundation Mares: How Outstanding Female Families Shaped America's Breeding Industry (2006, Thoroughbred Times Books).
Last updated: August 31, 2022