Sun Briar was sent from France to the 1916 Saratoga yearling auction by American bloodstock agent Delbert Reiff, where he was purchased for $6,000 by businessman Willis Sharpe Kilmer.

Trained by future Hall of Fame inductee Henry McDaniel,[1] in his Champion two-year-old season, the colt won five of his nine starts, including the 1917 Saratoga Special[2] and Hopeful Stakes.

[3] Not training well in the spring of 1918, Sun Briar did not run in the Kentucky Derby but by mid summer was in peak form.

Under regular rider Willie Knapp, he set a North American record of 1:36 1/5 for one mile on dirt over an oval track while winning the Delaware Handicap.

Among Sun Briar's other successful runners, his son Firethorn won the 1935 and 1937 Jockey Club Gold Cup and the 1936 Suburban Handicap.