HAYAKITA, HOKKAIDO, JAPAN (August 13) — It’s the ninth anniversary of the death of Zenya Yoshida, the founder of Shadai Farm. Rain has fallen for most of the day, growing stronger toward evening and the mood is grim at Shadai Stallion Station. In a barn set back from the others, a barn that was especially built to accommodate the aging Northern Taste, Kentucky Derby winner and leading Japanese stallion Sunday Silence battles what appear to be his longest odds yet.

Laminitis in the stallion’s left foreleg has worsened and Sunday (as the Stallion Station staff members refer to Sunday Silence) has for the past two days remained standing. Apparently the pain has worsened in both forelegs, in the left from the laminitis and in the right from the original infection for which he was operated on three times. “He has drawn his weight back over his hindquarters like a horse about to jump and has his feet drawn somewhat together in order to take the weight off them,” said spokesman Eisuke Tokutake. “Before he would lie down a lot but now he’s staying standing. If he lies down I don’t think he’s going to get up again. Then again, maybe he will. He’s such a strong horse.”

Sunday’s front legs are kept bandaged and electromagnetic tabs have been applied from the withers along his back and over his hindquarters. The horse has a good appetite and has, since June, been kept on strict rations in order to help reduce the weight his legs have to bear. Rotating shifts of staff workers and veterinarians watch over him round the clock, according to Tokutake. Special shoes have been made to elevate the heel of the right leg, where the tendon is separated.

Swelling in the hindlegs has worsened as well and it has failed, unlike earlier, to go down. Signs of laminitis have also appeared in the hindlegs. The stallions’s temperature is also often elevated. “Mentally, though he’s very strong and holding his own. His eyes are still bright and you can feel his power,” Tokutake explains