Stay Gold (Sunday Silence), a Group 1 winner and sire of Japanese Triple
Crown winner and Horse of the Year Orfevre, has died at age 21, according to
Racing Post.
Stay Gold placed at Group 1 level six times through his five-year career
before capping his record with his first Group 1 win in the 2001 Hong Kong Vase
in his final start. He also won that year’s Dubai Sheema Classic, when it was a
Group 2 at Nad Al Sheba, by a nose over Fantastic Light, and he recorded a
further three group victories for Shadai.
Stay Gold was retired to Big Red Farm in 2002, and his second crop included
the Arima Kinen (Jpn-G1) victor Dream Journey. Another son, Nakayama Festa, won
the Takarazuka Kinen (Jpn-G1) and came a head short of winning the Prix de l’Arc
de Triomphe (Fr-G1) when second to Workforce in 2010. Two years later, Orfevre
would record his first of back-to-back Arc seconds, and the temperamental
chestnut retired as one of Japan’s all-time leading earners with six Group 1
wins and more than $18.5 million in the bank. Orfevre will cover his second book
at Shadai this year.
Stay Gold has also sired champion Gold Ship, winner of the Satsuki Sho
(Japanese Two Thousand Guineas) (Jpn-G1), Kikuka Sho (Japanese St Leger)
(Jpn-G1) and Arima Kinen as a sophomore. Gold Ship added back-to-back Takarazuka
Kinens in 2013 and 2014, and was third behind Gentildonna in December’s Arima
Kinen. Stay Gold’s sextet of Group 1 winners is completed by dual Tenno Sho
Spring (Jpn-G1) victor Fenomeno and 2013 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies (Jpn-G1)
scorer Red Reveur.