SEA THE STARS TO STAND AT GILLTOWN STUD

Sea The Stars and Mick Kinane
(Image : ScottMultiMedia)

THE AGA KHAN TO BREED ZARKAVA TO SEA THE STARS

Sea The Stars, who was retired after a thrilling two-length victory over Youmzain in the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe on October 4, will enter stud in 2010 at the Aga Khan’s Gilltown Stud in Co. Kildare, Ireland.

The Bloodhorse reports that the announcement was made early this morning in a release from Gilltown Stud and the family of Christopher Tsui, in whose colors Sea The Stars raced while trained by John Oxx. As part of the announcement, the Aga Khan said he would breed his champion filly Zarkava, the 2008 Arc winner, to the champion son of Cape Cross.

“Gilltown is an ideal stud for Sea The Stars to thrive and develop as a stallion, and there is no more appropriate place for him to stand than in his homeland and close to Currabeg, where he was trained by John Oxx,” Ling Tsui, mother of Christopher Tsui, said in a statement. “His Highness was kind enough to let us stand Sea The Stars at Gilltown while keeping ownership of him, and we are most grateful. The staff and facilities at Gilltown are top class, and Sea The Stars will enjoy his stay there.”

“Mrs. Tsui and Christopher’s decision to entrust the future career at stud of Sea The Stars to Gilltown Stud farm brings to everyone at the Aga Khan Studs, as well as to me personally, the greatest happiness,” the Aga Khan said in a statement. “We are all proud to have such a remarkable athlete join the Aga Khan stallions at stud, and we are convinced that the Aga Khan mares, who have produced outstanding racehorses during the last 50 years, will breed very well indeed to Sea The Stars.

“Mrs. Tsui and Christopher’s decision is certainly one of the most important developments for my operation since I inherited it in 1960. I am also most pleased that Mrs. Tsui and Christopher will be developing their own breeding operation with the help of their magnificent horse, Sea The Stars. This horse could also help develop relations to bring Chinese investment into the European bloodstock market.

“In keeping with the motto of the Aga Khan Studs ‘success breeds success,’ I look forward to the earliest opportunity to send my unbeaten champion Zarkava to Sea The Stars. I believe the last two Arc winners were made for each other both in terms of ability, temperament, and conformation. The best needs to be bred to the best.”

During his 2009 season, Sea The Stars won the stanjames.com Two Thousand Guineas (Gr1), Investec Epsom Derby (Gr1), Coral-Eclipse (Gr1), Juddmonte International Stakes (Eng-I), and the Tattersalls Millions Irish Champion Stakes (Gr1) before completing his career October 4 with a two-length victory in the Arc. This season he has earned $6,797,494. In 2008, at 2, he won two of three starts, including the Juddmonte Beresford Stakes (Gr3).

Bred by the Tsui family’s Sunderland Holdings in Ireland, Sea The Stars is out of Urban Sea, the dam of six other stakes winners and three champions: Urban Ocean, champion 3-year-old male in Ireland in 1999; Galileo, champion 3-year-old male in England in 2001; and Black Sam Bellamy, champion 3-year-old male in Italy in 2002.

Urban Sea, who died this spring after delivering a colt by Invincible Spirit, was champion older female in France following her victory in the Arc, and was honored as Broodmare of the Year in England and Ireland in 2001.

SEA THE STARS : THE END OF A BRILLIANT CAREER

Sea The Stars
(Photo : John Gichigi/Getty)

“Please click photo to enlarge…”

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