SEA THE STARS : THE END OF A BRILLIANT CAREER

Sea The Stars
(Photo : John Gichigi/Getty)

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RETIREMENT OF SEA THE STARS

Christopher Tsui’s Sea the Stars will not race again after trainer John Oxx made the widely expected announcement.

Yesterday’s announcement brings to an end a run which may never be equaled, as Sea the Stars not only became the first in history to record the 2000 Guineas-Derby-Arc treble - Nijinsky narrowly failed at the final hurdle in 1970 - but also took in the three major 10 - furlong, all-aged contests of the summer in the Eclipse, Juddmonte International and Irish Champion Stakes.

John Oxx was left to reflect on a remarkable season later in the afternoon, and found it difficult to single out one of the six achievements as a personal favorite.

“It is hard to say there was any highlight with a horse like that, as they were all major races in their own right,” Oxx added. “When you win a Guineas and a Derby, it becomes even more important for him to win, and as the anxiety builds up as the year goes on, every race brings tremendous relief when it is over. I suppose winning the Derby was marvelous - the way he ran his race there was a joy to watch, with how he handled the track and coasted down the hill before sauntering up the straight waiting to go and win. That was a great sight, and it must be unusual for a trainer to watch his horse in the Derby and feel so comfortable with the way he is going right through the race. After that, he developed a great public following, and everybody quickly realised they were watching something special.

Oxx continued, “There has been great excitement every time from Sandown onwards, and he had a tremendous response from the crowds, and also the wider public towards the end as they realised that there was something special happening.

“In the Arc, I wasn’t as anxious as everyone else was, as although he ran along more strongly in the bridle than most people would like, he could do that and get away with it. I knew he had such a great turn of foot and he could get out of trouble. His success was down to a combination of everything, but mainly to his tremendous cruising speed. Ballydoyle tried their best to put in pacemakers and make it tough for him, but they could never get him off the bridle. He could just travel up behind any pace totally at ease - that’s his big thing - and then quicken up off it. He could do that because he has great heart and lungs, but he’s got this beautiful balance, lovely stride and a great length to him. He’s a big, strong horse – close-coupled in one way, but very long in another and he has this tremendous athletic stride. He also has a great temperament and never worries about anything, was always the calmest horse at the races, and it is courage and temperament at the end of the day that bring the best horses to a different level.”

On top of his unparalleled achievements at three, Sea the Stars also held a commendable record as a juvenile.

While he suffered a sole defeat on his debut when an eye-catching fourth at The Curragh last July, he was off the mark at Leopardstown the following month before registering his first black-type win in The Curragh’s G2 Juddmonte Beresford Stakes in September.

In total, the half-brother to leading sire Galileo (Sadler’s Wells) boasts a record of 9-8-0-0 while earning £

Stud arrangements have yet to be set, but there have been suggestions that the Tsuis are keen to stand him at the Irish National Stud. That County Kildare-based operation was the scene of his birth April 6, 2006, and currently houses Urban Sea’s final foal by Invincible Spirit. John Clarke, who is the chief executive of the Irish National Stud, also acts as racing manager to Ling Tsui and her son Christopher.

Extract from Thoroughbred Daily News

"Inbreeding to the great DANZIG" by Andrew Caulfield

Danzig
(Shaun Faust)

A few years ago, when discussing the concept of inbreeding to the great Danzig, I wrote: “The potential problem of inbreeding to Danzig, of course, was one of soundness, or the lack of it. Remember, Danzig’s exciting debut victory in the June of his two-year-old season was immediately followed by the discovery of bone chips. Away from the races for over 10 months, Danzig returned the following May to record two impressive allowance victories. Unfortunately, X-rays taken after his third success revealed that a slab fracture was developing in a knee and Danzig was forced into retirement before he had tackled stakes company.”

I was quick to point out that Danzig’s progeny have a reputation for being sounder than their sire - as you can see from Danzig’s up-to-date statistics, which show that 77 percent of his 1074 named foals made it to the races and around 62 percent made it into the winner’s circle. More to the point, more than 18 percent of Danzig’s foals became stakes winners, with this extraordinary percentage representing a huge incentive for trying to reinforce his influence by inbreeding.

Inbreeding to Danzig is likely to become quite widespread in Europe, where the Thoroughbred population is steeped in the blood of the Claiborne Farm superstar. The main European standard bearers of the Danzig male line have been Danehill and Green Desert, both of whom are developed thriving male lines. Fortunately, the racing records of both these stallions were reassuringly free of the soundness problems which beset their sire.

Despite being almost back at the knee, Danehill was sound enough to win the G1 Sprint Cup on his ninth and final appearance. Aidan O’Brien was asked to summarise the main virtues of Danehill’s stock after Duke of Marmalade had recorded his fifth consecutive Group 1 victory in the Juddmonte International three days ago.

“I suppose it’s their constitution - their toughness and their speed and their strength,” he said. “They’re three massive things - strength physically as well as mentally.”

When prompted by the interviewer to add soundness to the list, Aidan O’Brien agreed: “Obviously soundness. This horse (Duke of Marmalade) is a testimony to that, but that comes with strength.”

Green Desert was another individual whose career was comparatively problem free. Sufficiently forward to make his juvenile debut in May, he was racing for the 14th time when he failed to handle the dirt in the following year’s Breeder’s Cup Sprint. Oddly, there were some distinct parallels between his career and that of Danehill a few years later. Both won the Free Handicap over seven furlongs before reaching the first three in the 2000 Guineas. Subsequent efforts over a mile convinced both sets of connections to return their Danzig colts to sprint distances and both collected a pair of important victories, including one in the Sprint Cup at Haydock.

With unsoundness apparently not a serious concern, breeders have been quick to try combining Danehill and Green Desert, and last week’s results suggest that we will see much more of this inbreeding to Danzig in the future. Two of Europe’s important juvenile events fell to colts which have sons of Danehill as their sire and daughters of Green Desert as their second dam, creating 3x4 inbreeding to Danzig.

Firstly, we saw Dansili’s son Shaweel run over a clear-cut winner of the G2 Gimcrack Stakes, and then Bushranger  provided Danetime with his second successive victory in the G1 Prix Morny.

This type of cross had also hit the jackpot earlier this year when the G1 Coral-Eclipse was won narrowly by Mount Nelson. This four-year-old is by Rock of Gibraltar, another son of Danehill, and his third dam is by Green Desert.

In view of the concerns about soundness involved in inbreeding to Danzig, it is worth pointing out that the sires of these three group winners were all sound enough to undergo a thorough testing on the track, with Dansili, Danetime and Rock of Gibraltar respectively being veterans of 14, 15 and 13 races. The reverse cross - a Green Desert stallion on mares with Danehill blood - is also sure to become popular.

Cape Cross has already sired three stakes winners from his first five foals out of Danehill’s daughters, these stakes winners being inbred 3x3 to Danzig. Arguably the best of them is Able One, a New Zealand-bred who won the G1 Champions Mile in Hong Kong last year, but the English-trained Crosspeace was much better than his listed winner-status suggests, as he achieved annual Timeform ratings of 116 and 118.

Cape Cross’ talented miler Sentinelese is another inbred 3x3 to Danzig, but his second line comes via Polish Patriot rather than Danehill, and his Group 1- placed son Charlie Farnsbarns is inbred 3x4 to Danzig, his second line coming through Chief’s Crown.

While we are on the subject of Cape Cross, he added another group winner to his collection when Russian Cross took Saturday’s G2 Prix Guillaume d’Ornano and he was a bit unlucky not to add another group success the following day, when Treat Gently as second after being hampered in the Prix de la Nonette. The Darley stallion’s fee jumped from Eur20,000 to Eur50,000 in 2005, so his current crop of juveniles is the subject of high expectations. It is encouraging that two of his sons - Sea The Stars and War Native - recently achieved “TDN Rising Star” status.

Another of Green Desert stallions, Kheleyf, is also likely to have his fee raised substantially after the success he has enjoyed with his first runners. He currently heads the British and Irish freshman sires’ table both by number of winners and prize money.

With Oasis Dream maintaining his position as one of the most successful second-crop sires, with five first-crop group winners, Green Desert has a powerful team of young stallion sons, which also includes Invincible Spirit. This Irish National Stud resident did so well with his early crops that his fee now stands at Eur75,000. Yet another son, the undervalued Desert Style, is again demonstrating his ability to come up with the occasional top performer, this time with the impressive seven-furlong specialist Paco Boy.

Perhaps these sons have taken some of the attention away from Green Desert, whose fee was as high as Eur85,000 in 2004 (when he was 21) and 2005. Whatever the reason, he appears to be another of those stallions whose results have declined in old age. His last Group 1 winners, Oasis Dream and Desert Lord, were born in 2000 and his last five crops of racing age have so far produced nothing more than a pair of Group 3 winners. But we can happily forgive him those recent failings in view of his growing impact as a sire of sires.

GALILEO and PIVOTAL battle for 'Leading Sire in Europe' Honours

Galileo with Mick Kinane aboard
(Julien Herbert/Allsport)

Irish-based stallions are, as usual, dominating the Table of Leading Sires in Europe in 2008, with five of the top eight resident in the Emerald Isle.

The surprise package of the current list is Haras de Victot’s third-placed Chichicastenango, whose son Vision d’Etat retained his unbeaten record in Sunday’s Gr.1 Prix du Jockey-Club.

The grey is a not a one-horse sire though, and is responsible for the Gr.3 winners Chichi Creasy and Chinandega from his first crop. Galileo currently heads the list, the dual Derby winner’s son Cima de Triomphe having accounted for almost a third of his sire’s earnings to date with his victory in the Gr.1 Derby Italiano.

Second overall, and leading on win money only, is Cheveley Park Stud’s Pivotal, responsible for three individual Classic winners, Falco, Halfway to Heaven and Briseida, in the space of three weeks.

The other British-based sire near the top is Juddmonte’s fourth-placed Son of Danehill, Dansili. His biggest earner to date is the Jockey-Club runner-up Famous Name.

The Coolmore trio of Montjeu, the now retired Sadler’s Wells and Danehill Dancer fill the next three places followed by Verglas, whose first Irish National Stud-conceived crop is two.

Footnote : Summerhill’s November Ready To Run offering includes three Galileos, all spectacularly bred animals of considerable paddock potential.

Watch Cima de Triomphe winning the Gr1 Derby Italiano 2008

FASIG-TIPTON CALDER SALES : Miami heat... our plan is on the spot

John Motaung (Michael Nefdt) Readers of these columns know we have five staff abroad at present, attending the Irish National Stud course, at Sheikh Hamdan’s Derrinstown Stud in Ireland, or in John Motaung’s case, riding the Ready to Run (or Breeze Up) Sales in Florida and California.

The first of these is at Calder, where i t’s been quite warm over the past few days, but that hasn’t stopped a steady stream of prospective buyers from checking out the offerings at the Fasig-Tipton Selected Two-Year-Olds in Training Sale. “All the grooms and all the consignors fill up the parking lot and make the place look very busy,” quipped Terence Collier, Fasig-Tipton’s director of marketing.

Recent Calder graduates have made their mark in Britain, including David Junior, a $175,000 purchase in 2004 who developed into a multiple Group 1 winner; and Sir Robert Ogden’s Royal Ascot heroines La Chunga and Sander Camillo, who brought $275,000 and $500,000, respectively in 2005 and 2006. Their success hasn’t gone unnoticed. “There are a couple more parties here that haven’t been here before, the most notable of which is Mr Saleh Al Homeizi [owner of 2007 G1 Epsom Derby hero Authorized {Ire}] and his advisor Tony Nerses,” Collier confirmed. “I think the consignors felt there would be a huge influx of people because of the strength of the European currencies against the dollar. Well, generally, Europe has taken a little bit of a beating, economy-wise, in the last two or three months. I think the presence of a couple of major buyers will make a difference, but it’s not a tidal wave.”

As for Ogden’s success with this sale’s graduates, Collier offered, “Jamie McCalmont, who helps Jeremy Noseda in the evaluation of these horses, likes the format of this sale. He comes from a horse-in-training background, and spends 10 days down here watching these horses religiously every day. One of the reasons people say, “Why is Demi so successful? Why is Jamie so successful here?” It’s because of the amount of time they put in, and the same is true with Buzz Chace. You know, Buzz is here day after day, not just going to the under-tack show, which is a very public part of the format. There are days when they just go to the track and watch these horses, they go back to see how they cool out. So the people who are successful really do put a lot of work into it. There are enough nice horses in this sale that even the people that aren’t here every day can bid on a horse and come up with a top-class runner. It’s just whatever works for people.”

We’ll be in touch as the sale unfolds.

GEORGE WASHINGTON leaves a flawless legacy

George Washington The first and perhaps only filly foal by the late great George Washington (Danehill) was born just before midnight on Monday at the Irish National Stud. Her dam, Flawlessly (Rainbow Quest), belongs to Stefano and Loreto Luciani. The bay filly foal weighed in at 60 kilos and is reported to bear a striking similarity to ‘Gorgeous George’. George Washington won four Gr.1 races at two and three. The Champion European Two-Year-Old of 2005, he went on to triumph in the 2,000 Guineas and Queen Elizabeth II Stakes the following season. After a brief spell at stud at Coolmore, he returned to training last summer but his life was tragically cut short when he suffered a fatal injury in the Gr.1 Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Click here to watch the 2006 2,000 Guineas. 

Click here to watch the 2006 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes.

 Click here to watch the 2007 Breeder’s Cup Classic.

Extract from TDN 06.02.08