SEA THE STARS CROWNED AT CARTIER AWARDS

Sea The Stars - Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe
(Photo : ABC)

CARTIER RACING AWARDS 2009

The debate as to who will be named the top performer at the Eclipse Awards will continue into the new year, but there’s no controversy on the other side of the Atlantic. Christopher Tsui’s Sea the Stars was yesterday handed the accolade he had long since made a formality when named the Horse of the Year at the 2009 Cartier Awards.

At the latest ceremony, staged at Claridge’s Hotel in Mayfair, London, the historical feats achieved by the John Oxx-trained homebred were celebrated as he scooped the title of champion three-year-old colt alongside the main honor.

As he had on the racecourse, the bay son of the legendary Urban Sea left his title rivals in his wake in the points-and-vote system, sweeping the G1 2000 Guineas, G1 Epsom Derby, G1 Eclipse, G1 Juddmonte International, G1 Irish Champion and G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. Among those shortlisted for the top prize were Ballymacoll’s G1 King George and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and G1 Breeders’ Cup Turf hero Conduit and Derrick Smith, Susan Magnier and Michael Tabor’s G1 Irish 2000 Guineas and G1 St James’s Palace Stakes hero Mastercraftsman, the latter received the two-year-old colt award in 2008.

The Wertheimer brothers’ dual G1 Breeders’ Cup Mile heroine Goldikova was also in line for the Horse of the Year award and, although unlucky to come up against Sea the Stars in that category, was justly handed the champion older horse award. The Freddy Head-trained four-year-old also won the G1 Falmouth Stakes, G1 Prix Rothschild and G1 Prix Jacques le Marois prior to her dazzling display at Santa Anita.

Lady Bamford’s homebred Sariska gained the reward for completing the G1 English-Irish Oaks double by being named champion three-year-old filly ahead of Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s G1 1000 Guineas and G1 Coronation Stakes heroine Ghanaati - also in the shortlist for the Horse of the Year title - and Prince Khalid Abdullah’s G1 Nassau Stakes and G1 Breeders’ Cup F/M Turf victress Midday.

St Nicholas Abbey, who burst to prominence late on with a highly impressive success in the G1 Racing Post Trophy, headed the two-year-old colt division, providing Aidan O’Brien with a seventh such title since 1999. Prior to his Doncaster triumph, the bay captured the G2 Beresford Stakes, a race collected by Sea the Stars the previous year.

Prince Khalid Abdullah’s G1 Cheveley Park Stakes winner Special Duty was crowned champion two-year-old filly. Solskjaer’s brother Yeats, who retired this year after a sensational fourth G1 Gold Cup success, was named champion stayer and, in so doing, became the first to win a Cartier Award four times. The Searchers Syndicate’s G1 July Cup heroine Fleeting Spirit picked up the champion sprinter award. John Oxx, trainer of Sea the Stars, received the 2009 Cartier/Daily Telegraph Award of Merit. He joins previous honorees Queen Elizabeth II, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Prince Khalid Abdullah, John Magnier, His Highness The Aga Khan and Lester Piggott.

Extract from Thoroughbred Daily News

INVESTEC EPSOM OAKS : The 231st Renewal

John Gosden
(Photos : Team Talk/HKLM)

The 231st renewal of the Gr1 Investec Oaks to be run over a mile and a half on Investec Ladies Day Friday at Epsom Downs Racecourse , sees 10 fillies going to post with no surprises among yesterday’s scratchings.

The Thoroughbred Daily News reports that with so few in the contest, the outside draw for owner George Strawbridge’s Rainbow View (Dynaformer) should not count as a disadvantage. The last two winners were drawn in double-figure stalls, and last year’s Gr1 Fillies’ Mile heroine is poised for the big day after a visit to the Downs for last week’s “Breakfast with the Stars” morning. Of more concern is her ability to rebound from a fifth in the Gr1 1000 Guineas on May 3, and see out the extra half mile.

“I’m very clear in my mind that she will stay a mile and a quarter, but I don’t know about a mile and a half - you can only find out when you race them,” trainer John Gosden commented. “In terms of the Guineas, it was down to the ground being like a road, and she hated it and looked after herself. Her work before the Guineas was very good, so it was not about not having trained on. I really like the two fillies Sariska (Pivotal) and Midday (Oasis Dream), who won their trials and set a very high standard along with Rainbow View so it is a good Oaks as the front ones are pretty smart.”

Jockey Jimmy Fortune is hoping Rainbow View’s Newmarket effort can become a distant memory by Friday evening and added, “I knew after going two or three furlongs there, I wasn’t going to win as she changed her legs before she hit the “dip”, so I wasn’t too hard on her because it was the start of the year. She came back from the race in good form and she got a strongly-run mile at two at Ascot, so you’d have to say she’ll definitely get a mile and a quarter and is bred to get a mile and a half.”

Clive Brittain is no stranger to success at Epsom and bids to roll back the years with Saeed Manana’s Wadaat (Diktat). While the May 24 Gr2 Oaks d’Italia runner-up boasts none of the credentials of the stable’s 1992 heroine User Friendly (Slip Anchor), connections are hopeful she can bridge the gap. “My filly is nice and I know on the ratings she has a bit to find, but she is in with a shout,” jockey Neil Callan said. “She saw the trip out well in Italy and, like all of Clive’s fillies, she’s fit and tough and will be going there on merit.”

Of the outsiders, Julie Wood’s The Miniver Rose (High Chaparral) needs to improve on her second to Apple Charlotte (Royal Applause) in the 15 May Listed Swettenham Stud Fillies’ Trial Stakes at Newbury, which was the race used as a springboard to success for the 2005 Oaks heroine Eswarah (Unfuwain).

Her trainer Richard Hannon said, “The Oaks has been the plan for some time now, and The Miniver Rose deserves to take her chance. She is a quirky filly, but very talented, and since we moved her across from Everleigh to our Herridge yard she has behaved much better. She isn’t blessed with tons of speed, so the step up to a mile and a half should suit her. ”The going remains good, and Director of Racing Andrew Cooper said, “The ground is currently spot on and I am glad we took the decision to water when we did. I would have no hesitation in calling it good in the main. It is a little bit quicker in places, mainly on the climb up the back straight.”