He was inducted into the Michigan Quarter Horse Association Hall of Fame in 1989, later followed by his daughter, Eternal Linda.
Progeny of top Thoroughbred stallions such as Piggin String, Depth Charge, Spotted Bull, and Three Bars began to dominate in Quarter Horse racing in the mid-to-late 1940s, and then moved into AQHA show competitions.
[5] Eternal Sun's dam, Sierra Glitter, was a 1950 Sorrel mare by Silver King P-183 and out of Diamond Villiant.
Sierra Glitter's sire, Silver King P-183, a 1937 Bay stallion by Old Sorrel P-209 and out of Clegg Mare No.
As a close relative to four influential south Texas stallions, he was a noted broodmare sire.
[6] In the late 1950s Eternal Sun's breeder Taylor was living on the West Coast breeding some very well-known Quarter Horses of both genders.
He believed that "race-bred stallions, when crossed on heavier-muscled, halter-type mares, would be capable of producing Quarter Horses that could excel in both venues".
In 1957, he bred Sierra Glitter, a halter point earner, to Eternal War, a racehorse.
The 3,000 attendees bid so intensely the record for a mare selling at auction was set and broken four times that day on Pretty Buck.
Eternal Sun's dam Sierra Glitter set a record price for a Quarter Horse when the final bid for her was $14,200.
Parker McAvoy of Rio Vista Farms out of Fresno, California, acquired Sierra Glitter that day.
[8] When Phillips returned to his Expectation Stud Farm, his new horses joined the existing stallions including Ed Echols, Steel Bars, Double Bid, and Chuck Wagon W. When Phillips felt Eternal Sun was old enough, the horse was trained for track racing.
He ran the stallion moderately as a two- and three-year old, and the horse earned a AAA rating.
[7] On September 2, 1962, Eternal Sun was shown for the first time as a two-year-old at a show in Siloam Springs, Arkansas, where he earned grand champion.
He was shown one additional time as a two-year-old on November 16, where he placed first in a class of 10 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
[11] In the spring of 1962, Phillips also made a test run with Eternal Sun by breeding him to some of his ranch mares.
[12] On October 18, the second day of the sale, Harold Howard of Remus, Michigan, bought Eternal Sun for $26,000, along with four mares.
[13] Harold Howard owned a strawberry farm in Remus, Michigan, and plowed his land with draft horses.
[12] "Horses [in Michigan] were a lot shorter and stockier", Howard's daughter Mari Kay said.
Howard's son, Dar, started the colts under saddle, and he spent five years working with one of them, Eternal Pete.
[15] Once Eternal Pete got his AQHA Championship, he and Dar competed in state reining competitions, which they won for two consecutive years.
Eternal Sun was highly sought as a sire and passed on his characteristics to most of the colts born on the farm.
[14] Noted AQHA Hall of Fame breeder and owner Carol Harris of BoBett Farm in Riddick, Florida, recalled seeing Matlock Rose show Eternal Sun once.
[12] Eternal Dell was a 1965 sorrel stallion who earned 35 halter points and was a top sire for Harris.