Sunfire (horse)

{{Infobox racehorse | horsename = Sunfire | image = | caption = | sire = [[Olambala]] | grandsire = Ornus | dam = Sunburst | damsire = [[Banastar]] | sex = [[Stallion (horse)|Stallion]] | foaled = 1925 | country = United States | color = [[Bay (horse)|Bay]] | breeder = [[Richard Thornton Wilson, Jr.|Richard T. Wilson, Jr.]] | owner = Richard T. Wilson, Jr. | trainer = [[T. J. Healey|Thomas J. Healey]] | record = 73: 21-?-? | earnings = $66,206 | race = [[Ohio Derby]] (1928)<br>[[Toronto Cup Handicap]] (1928, 1929)<br>[[Windsor Hotel Cup Handicap]] (1928)<br>Ballston Handicap (1929) | awards = | honors = |updated = November 4, 2021 }} '''Sunfire''' (foaled 1925 in [[Kentucky]]) was an American [[Thoroughbred]] [[horse racing|racehorse]], bred and raced by the co-owner and president of [[Saratoga Race Course]], [[Richard Thornton Wilson, Jr.|Richard T. Wilson, Jr.]]

==Background== Sunfire was sired by Wilson's [[Olambala]], a multiple winner of important races including the [[Latonia Derby]] and [[Suburban Handicap]] and sire of several top runners including the 1916 [[American Champion Two-Year-Old Colt]] [[Campfire (horse)|Campfire]], and [[Belmont Stakes|Belmont]] and [[Preakness Stakes]] winner [[Pillory (horse)|Pillory]].

==Racing career== Sunfire was conditioned for racing by future [[National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame|U.S. Racing Hall of Fame]] [[horse trainer|trainer]] [[T. J. Healey]]. In 1928, he won the [[Toronto Cup Stakes|Toronto Cup Handicap]] at [[Old Woodbine Racetrack]] in [[Toronto, Ontario]], [[Canada]] and the [[Ohio Derby]], held at Bainbridge Park Race Track near [[Cleveland Ohio]].<ref name=SUN1>[https://woodbine.com/wp-content/uploads/MediaGuide-ThoroughbredStakesResults-2018-Revised.pdf ''2018 Woodbine Media Guide''] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201015231420/https://woodbine.com/wp-content/uploads/MediaGuide-ThoroughbredStakesResults-2018-Revised.pdf |date=October 15, 2020}}</ref> In winning the Ohio Derby under [[jockey]] Roger Leonard, Sunfire set a new Bainbridge Park Race Track course record of 1:52 1/5 for a mile and a furlong.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.nytimes.com/1928/08/12/archives/sunfire-captures-12000-ohio-derby-wilson-entry-sets-new-bainbridge.html |title= Sunfire Captures $12,000 Ohio Derby |publisher= New York Times, Section Sports, page 7 |date=1928-08-12|accessdate=2021-03-29}}</ref>

At [[Blue Bonnets Raceway]] in Montreal Sunfire won the eighteenth edition of the [[Windsor Hotel Cup Handicap]]. A race open to horses age three and older, Sunfire was the only three-year-old in a field of seven runners.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1920s/drf1928062501/drf1928062501_12_2 |title= Daily Racing Form Charts: Blue Bonnets |publisher=Daily Racing Form at University of Kentucky Archives |date=1928-06-25 |accessdate=2021-11-04}}</ref>

Raced again at age four, back in Toronto Sunfire won his second straight Toronto Cup Handicap and ran second to [[Preakness Stakes]] runner-up [[Sir Harry]] in the 1929 [[King Edward Stakes|King Edward Gold Cup Handicap]].<ref name=SUN1/>

Sunfire was not successful at [[stud (animal)|stud]].

==External links== * [http://www.pedigreequery.com/sunfire Sunfire's pedigree and partial racing stats]

==References== {{reflist}}

[[Category:1925 racehorse births]] [[Category:Racehorses bred in Kentucky]] [[Category:Racehorses trained in the United States]] [[Category:Horse racing track record setters]] [[Category:Thoroughbred family 4-r]]