Faded Glory: Forgotten Kentucky Derby Winners (Sunny’s Halo, 1983)

In 1964, Canadian businessman E.P. Taylor brought his pocket-sized rocket named Northern Dancer to Churchill Downs and came away with a win, the first horse bred in that country to take America’s signature race. Nearly two decades later, another Canadian-bred arrived in Louisville ready to take on the best that American racing had to offer. 

Thanks to his owner’s faith in his lone mare and his trainer’s devotion, Sunny’s Halo bested injury and a full field on Derby Day to bring another victory in the Run for the Roses back to the Great White North. 

Going for Broke

David Foster’s parents fed their son’s love of the racetrack from their Toronto-area tavern/hotel with sandwiches. The young man would take his wagon of goodies over to Dufferin Park and sell them to racegoers outside the track and then go inside to bet his profits. 

As an adult, Foster’s fortune came from stocks rather than sandwiches, but his love for racing kept him in the game: his D. J. Foster Racing Stable specialized in claimers, with the stockbroker focused on fun rather than funds. In 1970, Foster partnered with trainer David Cross, and soon the stable looked beyond the claiming ranks.

A native of Vancouver, British Columbia, Cross had spent his life on the racetrack, starting as a hot walker and stablehand before galloping horses and then even trying his hand at being a jockey. By 1957, he was training horses full time, saddling his first winner at Longacres Racetrack near Seattle, Washington. 

At a Canadian yearling auction in 1972, Cross picked out a filly by stakes winner Sunny and purchased her for $3,900 for Foster’s stable. Named Mostly Sunny, the filly would go on to race 48 times in three seasons, ending her career with six wins, five seconds, and nine thirds, and earnings of $30,162. Foster would send her to stud but found that Mostly Sunny was a bit star-crossed in that area.

Along with his other mare Dup Dup, the Toronto businessman ran into roadblock after roadblock with his breeding attempts: Dup Dup aborted twice, and then Mostly Sunny’s colt by Kinsmans Hope stepped in a hole and broke his shoulder, which meant he had to be euthanized. Then Foster sent both mares to Vice Regent: Dup Dup died foaling, and Mostly Sunny slipped her foal. 

The owner was on the verge of giving up when Cross suggested sending the latter to Halo at Windfields Farm in Maryland, owned by fellow Canadian E.P. Taylor, whose Northern Dancer became the first Canadian horse to win the Kentucky Derby in 1964. Cross reasoned that if Queen Elizabeth II was willing to send mares to the stakes-winning Halo, then the stallion was good enough for Mostly Sunny. 

On February 11, 1980, Foster’s lone mare delivered a chestnut colt with a heavily blazed face and splashes of white on three of his four legs. This Canadian-bred son of Halo would be registered as Sunny’s Halo, a horse destined for the sport’s biggest stage.

Building a Foundation

Sunny’s Halo won on debut at Woodbine, and then progressed to stakes company two weeks later in the Victoria S., also at Woodbine. He was second in that five-furlong allowance stakes and then followed that up with another second in the Clarendon S. The son of Halo netted his first stakes win in the Colin S. before traveling to Belmont Park for the Tremont (G3) in late July. He was third in that graded event and tried the Sanford (G2) at Saratoga, finishing fifth behind Fred Hooper’s star colt Copelan. 

The son of Halo then returned to Woodbine and reeled off three more stakes victories, including the prestigious Grey S. and Swynford S., before his last two tries stateside. Both performances saw the colt finish up the track and left him with stress fractures in his forelegs. Sunny’s Halo would win the Sovereign Award, Canada’s version of the Eclipse Awards, for two-year-old colt, leaving both Foster and Cross dreaming of roses. However, Cross needed to find a way to help his colt heal those stress fractures while also preparing him for a run at the Kentucky Derby. 

The stable went west for the winter, landing in California where Hollywood Park had recently installed a swimming pool for equine hydrotherapy. Sunny’s Halo would go several times a week, Cross’s goal to strengthen his charge’s muscles and build endurance while saving him the wear and tear of repetitive movement over a harder surface like a racetrack. The therapy was relatively new in 1983, but it worked wonders for Sunny’s Halo. He was ready to race by mid-spring, leaving both trainer and owner confident that they could be there on the first Saturday in May. 

As part of their preparations, Cross sent his charge out to Hot Springs, Arkansas, for the Rebel H. in late March. 

Reaping the Rewards

At Oaklawn, Sunny’s Halo came into the Rebel off a four-month layoff as the highest weight in a field of 11. The son of Halo handled the challenge with aplomb, taking the Rebel by three lengths. Cross’s next goal for his Derby hopeful was the nine-furlong Arkansas Derby (G1) on April 16, three weeks before the big race. 

To this point in his career, Sunny’s Halo had not had a regular rider, but his turn in the Arkansas Derby saw Eddie Delahoussaye, who had won the Kentucky Derby on Gato Del Sol the year before, in the saddle for this next test. Delahoussaye was the perfect pilot for the chestnut colt: against a full field of 13 others, the pair powered out of the gate, took a short lead on the first turn, and then increased their advantage to five lengths on the backstretch. The future Hall of Fame jock gave his colt a breather and then prompted him again in the stretch, hand-riding Sunny’s Halo to a four-length win. 

Cross, who was so focused on Sunny’s Halo that his stable was down to just three horses, was pleased with how the son of Halo came back from his Arkansas Derby win. He shipped the colt to Churchill Downs and spent the three weeks between the two races getting his hopeful ready for the big day and the big field of 20, which included stars like Marfa for D. Wayne Lukas; Desert Wine, a California-based stakes winner; and Caveat, who was second behind Sunny’s Halo in the Arkansas Derby and then won the Derby Trial a week earlier. 

Breaking from post 10, the Fosters’ Derby horse sat second behind Total Departure for the first six furlongs and then surged to the lead briefly before Desert Wine made his bid. Delahoussaye gave his colt the cue, and Sunny’s Halo found another gear, stretching his lead out to two lengths at the wire. His Canadian connections were jubilant: their colt was only the second Canadian-bred to win the Run for the Roses. Cross, who had given up so much to bring Sunny’s Halo to this point, was pleased with his colt’s performance. 

Sunny’s Halo tried the Preakness (G1) two weeks later, but a bad start compromised his chances, the race going to the Maryland-bred Deputed Testamony. He then skipped the Belmont S. (G1) and started five more times that season, winning the Super Derby (G1) and finishing third behind older horses in the Whitney (G1). 

He retired to Domino Stud in Lexington, Kentucky, and then moved to Texas in 1998, where he became one of the state’s leading sires. Sunny’s Halo passed away in 2003 and was buried at Double S Thoroughbred Farm in Bullard, Texas.

When the farm was sold in 2006, the 1983 Derby winner was moved to Churchill Downs, where he is buried alongside four other winners, including Swaps and Dust Commander.