NOW WE know who took the horse to France and brought him back home again after winning the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, writes SEÁN MacCONNELLin the Curragh
You who remember the punchline from the Kerrygold butter ad of some years ago will probably also know it was John Oxx who took the three-year-old Sea The Stars on the trip of a lifetime.
In taking the superhorse for his sixth race in six months, the quiet-spoken Oxx has turned the animal into pure gold, for the experts reckon he is now worth more than €100 million.
Sea The Stars achieved a remarkable triple never achieved in flat racing before now. No other horse has ever won the 2,000 Guineas in May, the Epsom Derby in June and then the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. He also managed to win another three top grade races.
Yesterday at his stables on the Curragh, the Oxx family held a media party for the superhorse and for their 40 staff to mark his remarkable achievement.
Purple and yellow balloons were hung outside the entrance with a sign saying “Welcome Home to our World Champion, Sea The Stars”. You could butter bread with the joy and sense of achievement.
And in the yard where there were a large number of press people, the horse who is now being spoken of in the same breath as Nijinsky, Dancing Brave and Mill Reef cast a disinterested eye on us all.
“He is probably, after 300 years of bloodstock breeding, the ultimate development of the thoroughbred horse,” said the trainer.
Oxx, who is not given to exaggeration, went on: “He has got great pedigree and great looks and great athleticism and size and a great ability over a variety of distances. You could not hope to breed a better horse and he represents the ultimate development of the bloodstock industry here.”
He said most of Ireland’s equine heroes had been from the jumping and steeplechasing side of racing like Arkle, while Sea the Stars has only been on the scene for one season.
“He has only been around for one season and has had an explosive career running and winning six races in six months and he has caught people’s imagination,” he said.
John’s wife Caitriona said the horse has amassed a legion of fans, not only in Ireland but also in Britain and France.
She runs the stables with her husband and said the achievement of Sea the Stars was even more important as it highlighted what smaller Irish stables could do.
“We are a small outfit by some standards and this latest victory is good for the sport and the industry and for the smaller trainers like ourselves,” she said.
Where Sea the Stars has no fans is in the ranks of the bookmaking fraternity, for the three-year-old has cost the British bookies a staggering £25 million since he won the 2,000 Guineas – more than any other horse.
Ladbrokes spokesman Robin Hutchison said: “The sooner he retires, the better.”
That was the key question being asked of John Oxx yesterday. Would he send him to America in early November to win the Breeders’ Cup and presumably skin the bookies there, or would he retire to stud?
That decision rests with the owner, Hong Kong businessman Christopher Tsui, said Oxx, who seemed to indicate it would be asking a great deal of the horse to go to the States. However, Oxx said, it was the horse’s relaxed attitude and “bomb-proof temperament” which won the day for all around him.
So we won’t know for a while who, if anyone, is taking the horse to Santa Anita for the Breeders’ Cup.