EPSOM DERBY REPORT: Perhaps the most remarkable thing about this great horse, writes Brian O'Connor, is that he is still improving. After all, he's run only five times
IT MIGHT seem silly to tag the description “straight-forward” onto so seismic a piece of racing history as Sea The Stars completing the 2,000 Guineas-Derby double at Epsom on Saturday, but that’s the wonder of the sport’s latest superstar: like a Federer or a Messi, this is a horse capable of making the wondrous seem indeed to be straight-forward.
Statistically alone, Sea The Stars proved such breathless hyperbole isn’t so far-fetched by winning on Saturday. Horses capable of bringing off the Guineas-Derby double are, after all, rarer than hen’s teeth. It is 20 years since Nashwan managed it and another 19 back to Nijinsky.
But better than any cold stats is the vivid impression left by a colt that – everyone still has to remember – has run only five times.
Despite running keenly for the first two furlongs, he and jockey Michael Kinane soon settled into a rhythm that not for one moment looked like being disrupted by any of his 11 opponents.
Aidan O’Brien’s half-dozen-strong team had a clear quantity edge, but in terms of quality Sea The Stars was in an imperious class of his own. That he should manage to be so in the world’s most prestigious classic while at the same time leaving the undeniable impression that even better is to come is an image to get any horse-enthusiast into an anticipatory froth.
And if that seems strong, then even the shortest conversation with Kinane or trainer John Oxx will disabuse you of any notion that people are getting carried away with Sea The Stars.
Rarely one to cast anything but a cold and clinical eye on a horse, Kinane, who is on the verge of his 50th birthday later this month, has a fondess for his third Epsom Derby winner that he has been incubating since he first sat astride Sea The Stars over a year ago.
Shouting about it is not his way, nor is it Oxx’s. But beneath the calm exteriors is a realisation that they are dealing with something very much out of the ordinary.
Not that so much would have been obvious prior to Saturday’s race. Ostentatious displays of meticulous planning are not their way.
“I rode in the first race, and then John and myself had a little chat. We went through what I thought would happen,” Kinane recalled yesterday.
“Then John said he was going for a cup of coffee to kill some time!”
The Curragh trainer’s approach to race-tactics is as calmly rational as it is to most things. He has never ridden in a Derby, while Kinane had ridden in 21 prior to Saturday. Hiring a jockey means hiring their instincts, and when it comes to major international races Kinane’s instincts remain razor sharp: best to leave it to the man on board.
As things unfolded, even Oxx might have fancied his chances on the back of a colt who emulated his half-brother, Galileo, by winning the Derby and is now worth a conservative €60 million at stud due both to his spectacular racing ability and to that close relationship to Coolmore’s most lucrative stallion.
With the benefit of hindsight, Johnny Murtagh’s decision to ride Rip Van Winkle rather than the stamina-laden Fame And Glory may have led to a somewhat funereal early pace on Saturday that provoked Sea The Stars into some early impulsiveness.
After all, trying to discover any stamina flaws in the Oxx runner could have rebounded on Rip.
As it was, the pace set by Golden Sword and Age Of Aquarius provided Kinane with a perfect tow and left Fame And Glory fighting an honourable but ultimately futile battle into second, closely followed by his stable companions Masterofthehorse and Rip Van Winkle. Golden Sword kept on for fifth.
It was a remarkable display of strength-in-depth by a single trainer in an Irish clean sweep, but the winner looked so dominant that Ballydoyle could have fired a battleship at Sea The Stars and remained outgunned.
A similar fate may await the O’Brien team at the Curragh in the Irish Derby as long as soft ground conditions don’t force Oxx into switching Sea The Stars to the following weekend’s Eclipse at Sandown. After that, a concentration on major 10-furlong races like the Juddmonte and the Irish and English Champion Stakes looks like the trainer’s favoured plan.
What is certain, however, is that even Oxx’s inherent caution can’t stop him getting effusive over perhaps the best horse ever to emerge from his Currabeg stables.
“He’s certainly the speediest of the top horses we’ve had,” Oxx admitted yesterday. “The way he travels he could win a top six-furlong race. He’s got everything: pedigree, confirmation, speed and now stamina. He’s a great horse, really.
“Sinndar was a great horse too and kept improving. I think this fellah will do the same. Winning the Derby and the Guineas is an unusual thing and I think that’s what makes him an extra-special horse,” Oxx added.
All of which is a tribute to the Derby’s enduring role as a definer of the best. Sea The Stars has the racing world laid out before of him for the rest of 2009, but Epsom will remain the place where he first proved himself a true champion.
The famous old race and its latest classic hero are worthy of each other.
JOHN MORTIMER OXX
Born: July 14th, 1950. Father John was an eight-time Irish Classic-winning trainer.
Stable: Currabeg, Co Kildare, Ireland.
First trainer's licence: 1978.
First winner: Orchestra at Phoenix Park on March 31st, 1979.
Guineas winner: Sea The Stars, 2009.
Derby winners: Sinndar, 2000; Sea The Stars, 2009.
Irish Derby winners: Sinndar, 2000; Alamshar, 2003.
Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner: Sinndar, 2000.
Breeders' Cup winner: Ridgewood Pearl, Mile, 1995.
King George and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes winners: Alamshar, 2003; Azamour, 2005.
Other Group One winners: Azamour: St James's Palace Stakes, 2004; Irish Champion Stakes, 2004; Prince of Wales's Stakes, 2005; Ebadiya: Irish Oaks, Prix Royal-Oak, 1997; Moyglare Stud Stakes, 1998; Enzeli: Gold Cup, 1999; Doncaster Cup, 2000; Eurobird: Irish St Leger, Blandford Stakes, 1987; Flamenco Wave: Moyglare Stud Stakes, 1988; Foresee: Blandford Stakes, 1993; Kastoria: Irish St Leger, 2005; Khalafiya: Meld Stakes, 1990; Key Change: Yorkshire Oaks, 1996; Manntari: National Stakes, 1993; Massyar: Gallinule Stakes, 1993; Petite Ile: Irish St Leger, 1989; Namid: Prix de l'Abbaye, 2000; Ridgewood Pearl: Irish 1,000 Guineas, 1995; Coronation Stakes, 1995; Prix du Moulin, 1995; Sardaniya: Meld Stakes, 1991; Shemaran: Gallinule Stakes, 1995; Sinndar: National Stakes, 1999; Takarouna: Pretty Polly Stakes, 1993; Timarida: Irish Champion Stakes, 1996; Winona: Irish Oaks, 1998.
