ARKLE HAS always been the most popular symbol of Irish racing excellence but the totemic steeplechaser now looks to have competition on his hands in the “legendary stakes” after Sea The Stars put the seal on a perfect season with victory in yesterday’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
The John Oxx-trained colt won his sixth Group One prize in 2009 with a thrilling success in Europe’s most prestigious all-aged flat race that had many racing experts describing Sea The Stars as a contender for the best horse ever to race in Europe.
Fears that the effects of a long season, which began with a win in May’s 2,000 Guineas in Newmarket, could scupper Sea The Stars’s chances yesterday proved completely wide of the mark as he manoeuvred his way through the 19-strong field to win easily.
His 50-year-old jockey Michael Kinane completed a notable coincidence treble, having previously won the Arc in 1989 and 1999 as well, while it was a second success in the €4 million highlight for Oxx, who is based at the Curragh.
“It’s wonderful that it’s over – it’s just a great relief. It’s great that he has come through like that,” said Oxx, 59, afterwards. “After he won at Leopardstown last month I thought nothing could beat him, and that he was the best horse by far.
“But as you get closer, you start thinking of all the great horses that have come to the Arc and haven’t done it.” Sea The Stars is just the sixth Irish-trained Arc winner and he returned to a tumultuous reception in the winner’s enclosure yesterday.
That no doubt was partly due to him being a heavy odds-on 4 to 6 favourite, but there was also a sense that Sea The Stars has become a benchmark racehorse by which future generations will be judged.
The three-year-old, who is owned by the Hong Kong businessman, Christopher Tsui, and was bred at the Irish National Stud, is unlikely to race again in 2010 but Oxx hasn’t ruled out one more race in next month’s Breeders’ Cup Classic in America.
Speculation about a potentially lucrative career at stud for Sea The Stars will gather even more pace after yesterday’s victory, with valuations of up to €100 million being put on the horse in terms of a stallion career.
And that’s one field where Ireland’s newest equine hero will always have the edge on Arkle.
