Champion Sea The Stars Gives Up

Ever Since Sea The Stars' captivating win in the Arc at Longchamp, it has been questioned whether he is the greatest Flat horse ever to have been born.

The horse bred from Cape Cross and mare Urban Sea, has provided racing with one of the greatest horses to ever grace the track. So it has come as a bit of a shock to find out that he is going to be put out to stud. Some, although well able to admit his quality refuse to believe that he is one of the greatest horses of all time. Joe Mercer, a former champion jockey who rode in the early seventies, is one voice of skepticism. He fears that we are in danger of being swept up in the momentary hype, but he recalls horses such as Galileo who won big races in 2001. Back then people thought that Galileo was the best horse that had ever been seen - and as Mercer affirms: you can't have a best horse you've ever seen every other year! He points out that the horse he rode, Brigadier Gerard won thirteen Group Ones, whereas Sea The Stars has only won six.

Others though have been less hesitant to knock Sea The Stars. Pat Eddery who rode Dancing Brave to victory in the Prix de l'Arc in 1986 has said that Sea The Stars is "up there with the best", and laughed at the idea that he could resent the champion being regarded by many as a better horse than the one he rode.

And Sea The Stars has done things that others more than likely would not have been able to achieve. He has been the first to do the 2000 Guineas Derby Arc treble and has whipped the rest of the generation - as well as Europe's best older horses - at eight, 10 and 12 furlongs or a mile to a mile-and-half. It has been expected that he would fail at some time, especially as throughout the season a horse will usually lose energy and tire, but not Sea The Stars. He has grown nothing but fitter, stronger and faster. He is the perfect race horse, what every breeder in the world wants their horses to be. He has been trainer John Oxx's sepcial project, and he has put him through his paces - 6 months of racing without a break, which is something that most horses who go on to compete in the Arc get. He has made ex jockey Mick Kinane, at the age of fifty, look rejuvenated and his 27 year old owner Christopher Tsui act like a teenager!

Why is Sea The Stars, such a incredibly successful racehorse, being sent to stud after just 2 seasons on the track? There are many who are extremely sad that he is not going to be sent to next month's Breeders Cup Classic. But the Breeders Cup is an exacting test which could really exhaust the horse after he has already achieved so much. It might have put him ahead of Dancing Brave but after all, what's left to prove, everyone has already seen what Sea The Stars can do.