Sunny Jane (horse)
{{Short description|British-bred Thoroughbred racehorse}}
{{Infobox racehorse
| horsename = Sunny Jane
| image_name = Sunny Jane.png
| caption =
| sire = Sunstar
| grandsire = Sundridge
| dam = Maid of the Mist
| damsire = Cyllene
| sex = Mare
| country = United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
| colour = Chestnut
| breeder = Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor
| owner = Lord Astor
| trainer = Alec Taylor, Jr.
| record = 6: 2-1-0
| earnings =
| race = Oaks Stakes (1917)
|awards =
|honours =
|updated=
}}
Sunny Jane (1914 – after 1925) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare. She was slow to mature and finished unplaced on her only start as a two-year-old in 1916. Her second season was dominated by her rivalry with the brilliantly fast filly Diadem. Sunny Jane was narrowly beaten by her rival in the 1000 Guineas but reversed the form over a longer distance to win the New Oaks. She won one other race but lost her form in the autumn and was retired from racing. As a broodmare she produced few winners but exerted an enduring influence through her daughter Miss Cavendish.
Background
Sunny Jane was a chestnut mare bred in the United Kingdom by her owner Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor. She was sent into training with Alec Taylor, Jr. at his stable at Manton, Wiltshire.{{cite book | last1 = Mortimer|first1=Roger |last2=Onslow|first2=Richard|last3=Willett|first3=Peter| title=Biographical Encyclopedia of British Flat Racing|publisher=Macdonald and Jane’s| year=1978|isbn=0-354-08536-0}}
She was from the second crop of foals sired by Sunstar who won the 2000 Guineas and the Epsom Derby in 1911 before his career was ended by injury. Sunny Jane's dam Maid of the Mist was a daughter of Sceptre and an influential broodmare in her own right, who also produced the 2000 Guineas winner Craig an Eran. Her other descendants have included Buchan, Commanche Run, Full Dress, Swiftfoot and One in a Million.{{cite web|url=http://www.bloodlines.net/TB/Families/Family16h.htm |title=Lily Agnes - Family 16-h |publisher=Thoroughbred Bloodlines |access-date=2013-08-30}}
Sunny Jane's racing career took place during World War I. Many racecourses were closed for the duration of the conflict and all five of traditional British Classic Races were run at Newmarket.
Racing career
=1916: two-year-old season=
On her only run as a two-year-old, Sunny Jane finished last of the five runners in the Bretby Post Stakes at Newmarket.{{cite web|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19170803.2.41?query=Sunny+Jane|title=Racing in England|date=3 August 1917|publisher=Evening Star (Dunedin)|pages=4|via=Papers Past}}
=1917: three-year-old season=
File:Otto Madden, Vanity Fair, 1900-07-26.jpg
On 4 May Sunny Jane was one of fourteen fillies to contest the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket and before the race Alec Taylor said "that big, green filly of mine will run well".{{cite web|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/SUNCH19170806.2.4.1?query=Sunny+Jane|title=Turf and Stud.|date=6 August 1917|publisher=The Sun (Christchurch)|pages=2|via=Papers Past}} Diadem started 6/4 favourite and won as expected but Sunny Jane finished very strongly and was only half a length away in second place.{{cite web|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19170713.2.77?query=Sunny+Jane|title=The Turf|date=13 July 1917|publisher=Evening Star (Dunedin)|pages=7|via=Papers Past}} Two months later she reportedly won a race at the Newmarket July meeting.{{cite web|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/60324953|title=Sporting Notes|date=4 September 1917|publisher=The Register (Adelaide)|pages=7|via=trove.nla.gov.au}}
The New Oaks was run in "wretched" weather on 2 August at Newmarket and attracted a field of eleven runners with Diadem starting the 7/4 favourite. Sunny Jane, ridden by Otto Madden, was second choice in the betting on 4/1 while the best of the other runners appeared to be Molly Desmond (Cheveley Park Stakes) and Hampshire Lily. Appearing to be well-suited by the heavy ground conditions,{{cite web|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/120291166|title=Turf Jottings|date=17 October 1917|publisher=The Referee|pages=5|via=trove.nla.gov.au}} Sunny Jane took the lead just after the start and quickly opened up a lead of five lengths from Hampshire Lily and Diadem. Although the favourite closed the margin in the straight, Madden appeared to have left something in reserve{{cite web|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/140195152/11763256|title=Sporting Notes|date=22 September 1917|publisher=The Australasian|pages=22|via=trove.nla.gov.au}} and won by half a length from Diadem, with four lengths back to Moravia in third.{{cite web|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19170804.2.19?query=Sunny+Jane|title=Sporting.|date=4 August 1917|publisher=The Press|pages=5|via=Papers Past}}
Sunny Jane returned in autumn but ran poorly behind Quarryman in the Select Stakes.{{cite web|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/209646277|title=London November 1|date=3 January 1918|publisher=The Telegraph (Adelaide)|pages=4|via=trove.nla.gov.au}} For her final appearance she was assigned a weight of 111 pounds in the Cambridgeshire Handicap and started at odds of 100/6 (approximately 16/1). With Madden in the saddle she tracked the leaders for most of the way but faded in the final stages and finished eleventh of the fourteen runners.{{cite web|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/140199387|title=Sporting Notes|date=5 January 1918|publisher=The Australasian|pages=17|via=trove.nla.gov.au}}
Assessment and honours
In their book, A Century of Champions, based on the Timeform rating system, John Randall and Tony Morris rated Sunny Jane an "average" winner of the Oaks.{{cite book|last1 = Morris | first1 = Tony |last2=Randall|first2=John|title=A Century of Champions|publisher= Portway Press|year=1999|isbn=1-901570-15-0}}
Breeding record
After being retired from racing at the end of her second season, Sunny Jane became a broodmare for Lord Astor's stud. Her foals included:
- Miss Cavendish, a chestnut filly, foaled in 1919, sired by Chaucer. Her female-line descendants have included Red Bullet, Noalcoholic and Tin Horse (Poule d'Essai des Poulains).
- Bright Knight, bay colt, 1921, by Gay Crusader. Won five races. Second in the 2000 Guineas
Pedigree
{{Pedigree
|name = Sunny Jane (GB), chestnut mare, 1914
|inf =
|f = Sunstar (GB)
1908
|m = Maid of the Mist (GB)
1906
|ff = Sundridge
1898
|fm = Doris
1898
|mf = Cyllene
1895
|mm = Sceptre
1899
|fff = Amphion
|ffm = Sierra
|fmf = Loved One
|fmm = Lauretta
|mff = Bona Vista
|mfm = Arcadia
|mmf = Persimmon
|mmm = Ornament
|ffff = Rosebery
|fffm = Suicide
|ffmf = Springfield
|ffmm = Sanda
|fmff = See Saw
|fmfm = Pilgrimage
|fmmf = Petrarch
|fmmm = Ambuscade
|mfff = Bend Or
|mffm = Vista
|mfmf = Isonomy
|mfmm = Distant Shore
|mmff = St Simon
|mmfm = Perdita
|mmmf = Bend Or
|mmmm = Lily Agnes (Family: 16-h)}}
- Though her dam Maid of the Mist, Sunny Jane was inbred 4 × 4 to Bend Or, meaning that this stallion appears twice in the fourth generation of her pedigree.