He was then sold for a record amount to Martin H. Benson and stood stud in England, where he became the patriarch of several of the most dominant sire lines in Thoroughbred history.
[1] His races were as follows: In his 1986 book Makers of the Modern Thoroughbred, Peter Willett wrote that Tesio tried to sell Nearco at two, believing that the colt would not have enough stamina to last the classic distances.
With the political turmoil and the possibility of war caused by Benito Mussolini aligning Italy with Nazi Germany, Federico Tesio sold Nearco in 1938 to Martin H. Benson of Beech House Stud in Newmarket, England, for £60,000 (a world record for a sire in those days; equivalent to £4,839,000 in 2023).
[4] The potential importance of Nearco's progeny was forecast in the provision of a bomb shelter to ensure his survival should Newmarket be subject to an air raid.
Sunday Silence is the sire of numerous Japanese champions including Deep Impact, and is the grandsire of the top-rated horse of 2014 Just A Way.
His modern descendants include Justify, Galileo, Ouija Board, Sea the Stars, Black Caviar, Frankel and Treve.
Several of Nearco's male-line descendants were ranked among the Top 100 U.S. Racehorses of the 20th Century by The Blood-Horse: #2 Secretariat, #9 Seattle Slew, #10 Spectacular Bid, #18 Cigar, #19 Bold Ruler, #24 Nashua, #31 Sunday Silence, #35 Ruffian, #43 Northern Dancer, #57 Riva Ridge, #58 Slew o' Gold, #69 Noor, #70 Shuvee, #72 Go For Wand, #76 Lady's Secret, #82 Miesque, #85 Lure, #86 Fort Marcy, #90 Davona Dale, #95 Bayakoa and #97 Foolish Pleasure.
[11] Other notable male-line descendants were Ballymoss, Arkle, Never Say Die, Royal Palace, Better Loosen Up, Sir Ivor, Invasor, Wise Dan, and Summer Breeze.
These horses are Deep Impact, Makybe Diva, Narita Brian, Sunline, Symboli Kris S, T M Opera O, Viva Pataca, and Vodka.
On the distaff side, Mr. Prospector's dam Gold Digger is a great-granddaughter of Nearco through Nasrullah and Nashua, Sweet Tooth a great-granddaughter through Nasrullah and On-and-On, and Fairy Bridge a great-great-great-granddaughter through Royal Charger, Turn-To, Hail to Reason, and Bold Reason(and her dam also has a maternal line to Nearco).