In the spring of 2009, a bay colt trained from a quiet yard in County Kildare went to Newmarket and won the 2000 Guineas. By the time he finished racing six months later, he had achieved something no horse before him had managed and, sixteen years on, none has managed since.
John Oxx was not the kind of trainer who courted attention. His yard at Currabeg, near the Curragh, operated without the fanfare that surrounded the big battalions at Ballydoyle.
He worked methodically, with patience, and he had been waiting for a horse like Sea The Stars for a long time. When the colt arrived, bred by the Tsui family’s Sunderland Holdings and owned by Christopher Tsui, a young Hong Kong businessman, Oxx knew almost immediately that the wait had been worth it.
A Family Built for the Job
Sea The Stars came from a pedigree that read like a European racing blueprint. His sire was Cape Cross, a high-class miler who had won the Lockinge, the Queen Anne and the Celebration Mile for Godolphin. His dam was Urban Sea, winner of the 1993 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. More strikingly, Urban Sea had already produced Galileo, the Aidan O’Brien-trained champion who won the Derby, the Irish Derby and the King George in 2001. She is one of very few mares in history to have produced two Epsom Derby winners.
Sea The Stars himself started his career unthreateningly enough. He finished fourth on debut at the Curragh in July 2008, green and a little lost in the pack. He won a Leopardstown maiden next time, then took the Beresford Stakes at the Curragh by half a length. That was as close as anyone would come to him.
The Season That Defined a Career
Oxx sent Sea The Stars to the Newmarket 2000 Guineas without a prep race, a decision that raised eyebrows given that a virus in March had disrupted preparations.
He’s a classy horse and we’ve waited for him all winter. He’s been crying out for this ground.
A good workout the week before the race settled things, and Mick Kinane, who would ride him in all eight of his career starts, produced him from mid-division to win by a length and a half from the favourite Delegator. Kinane said afterwards: “He’s a classy horse and we’ve waited for him all winter. He’s been crying out for this ground.”
Three weeks later, Epsom. Sea The Stars was drawn in a strong Derby field that included six runners from Ballydoyle, and there were genuine questions about his stamina over a mile and a half.
I was going so easy all the way, it was as if we were going in slow motion.
He settled those questions firmly, gradually reeling in the leaders from three furlongs out and going clear to beat Fame And Glory. Kinane’s assessment was simple: “I was going so easy all the way, it was as if we were going in slow motion.”
What followed was a sequence that put his season in a category almost entirely its own.
The Eclipse at Sandown in July, where he fought off Rip Van Winkle’s strong challenge with a decisive surge of acceleration. The Juddmonte International at York in August, where he broke the track record by 0.8 seconds beating Mastercraftsman. The Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown in September, where he produced a burst of speed to go past Fame And Glory with something in hand, earning a Timeform rating of 140. And then Paris.
Longchamp, October
Some thought the Arc was a race too many. A field of nineteen runners, a long season already behind him, and Sea The Stars pulling hard in the early stages after being bumped coming out of the stalls.
Kinane settled him in eighth, then faced the classic Arc dilemma turning into the straight: boxed in on the rail, with horses in front and nowhere obvious to go.
The gap appeared. Sea The Stars found it, and then found another gear entirely. He went three lengths clear inside the final furlong and was eased down to win by two.
He had become the only horse in history to win the 2000 Guineas, the Epsom Derby and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in the same year. He had won six consecutive Group One races in six months. His retirement was announced nine days later.
Kinane reflected on that Arc win in an interview years afterwards: “I remember when the gap appeared. That was the first time he really needed an exceptional turn of foot. But he made up the seven lengths in no time. He did everything so easily in his work and never disappointed us. He was better at home than he was on the racecourse.”
At Gilltown
Sea The Stars was retired to the Aga Khan’s Gilltown Stud in Ireland, where he stands today at a fee of €300,000. The expectations placed on him as a sire were extraordinary, given his own record and his pedigree, and he has met most of them.
His first crop included Taghrooda, who won the Epsom Oaks and the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes in 2014.
Sea The Moon won the German Derby by eleven lengths in the same year.
Harzand completed the Derby and Irish Derby double in 2016.
Stradivarius, perhaps his most beloved British-trained offspring, won the Ascot Gold Cup three times and the Goodwood Cup four times, becoming one of the most popular horses of his generation.
Sea of Class won the Irish Oaks and Yorkshire Oaks in 2018. Hukum, trained by Owen Burrows, won the Coronation Cup and the King George in 2023. And Baaeed, trained by William Haggas and unbeaten through his first fourteen starts, is widely considered one of the finest milers seen in a generation.
Most recently, Daryz won the 2024 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, making Sea The Stars the sire of an Arc winner to go alongside his own victory in the same race.
He remains at Gilltown today, still producing top-class horses at twenty years of age, the king of the stud as surely as he was the king of the track in that extraordinary summer of 2009.
Notable Progeny
Taghrooda (2011 f) — Epsom Oaks, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2014)
Sea The Moon (2011 c) — German Derby by eleven lengths (2014)
Harzand (2013 c) — Epsom Derby, Irish Derby (2016)
Stradivarius (2014 c) — Ascot Gold Cup x3, Goodwood Cup x4
Sea of Class (2015 f) — Irish Oaks, Yorkshire Oaks (2018)
Star Catcher (2016 f) — Irish Oaks, Prix Vermeille (2019)
Hukum (2017 c) — Coronation Cup, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2023)
Baaeed (2018 c) — Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, Lockinge Stakes, Sussex Stakes, Juddmonte International (unbeaten in 14 starts)
Emily Upjohn (2019 f) — British Champions Fillies and Mares Stakes, Coronation Cup (2023)
Daryz (2022 c) — Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (2024)
