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It’s all about business and increasing that bottom line for me.
Cooling his heels at Killabeg after a light spin on the sand or polytrack — he will be laying the first stones for his Breeders’ Cup Classic attempt.
Must admit I’d have sent him to the St Leger. Would’ve rather he won that than the Irish Champion but I can understand them running him in front of his home fans.
Under the knife, and being prepped for the Fred Winter.
The former needn’t precede the latter, of course, and I’d sooner it didn’t. Let him keep his veg, a la Alderbrook!
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
If i were his trainer i’d aim him at the arc. Everytime the horse wins a race Oxx says he came out of the race really well and was raring to go again, eating well etc. So who knows, if he won the arc they might have the BCC in mind. Although it’s likely that it will be one of the two.
Anecdotally we had a fair few emails into the studio on Sunday regarding Sea The Stars’ target, and every single one from France implored Mr Oxx to run the colt in the Arc. Limited evidence, of course, but it did appear from the text of those mails that there is some appetite over there for him to prove himself best of his generation in mainland Europe, as well as just Britain and Ireland, and a belief that an Arc win would affirm that at a stroke.
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
It’s pure fantasy to believe STS or any similar horse in the future would run in the Leger, I can’t see what the attraction is of running in the race.
As Big Mac told Chapman why not campaign for something that would really be beneficial to us all, running STS as a 4 and/or 5yo instead of ludicrously campaigning for him to run in the Leger.There is no way he would run in the Leger if he were my horse – next target would be the Arc – as long as the ground was suitable.
Don’t see any point in going to the Breeders Cup – what would his participation prove?
Its a real shame that the St Leger so regularly doesn’t enter serious calculations for the leading 3 y o’s anymore and that we are therefore left with a rather tepid poor relation of a classic which I can’t remember getting excited about ( beforehand) for years,certainly not this years renewal anyway.
Not sure what the answer is but scheduling rather than tampering with distance and age occurs to me.
As for Sea the Stars he has proved that at the very least he is the best of the 3yo generation at 3 distances and I feel nobody should try to detract from the fact that he has been campaigned brilliantly by a team from whom you would expect nothing less and I hope triumph in the Arc is a reward for their efforts ,skill and patience.I’d definitely be having a go at the St Leger. Until the BHA (or whoever decides these things) formally lowers the St Leger from Classic status then its where STS should be. If STS wins the Arc and the breeders cup he will be a superstar…but to win a Triple Crown? In my book that supersedes all else.
In fact, why not go Leger, Arc, Breeders Cup, Champion Hurdle, Dubai World Cup, Ascot Gold Cup, King George, Irish Champion, Newmarket Champion, King George, Gold Cup, Grand National! Maybe then he’d have proved himself!!
Under the knife, and being prepped for the Fred Winter.
No,no, let’s not hurry. Put him out a in field for a year strengthening up for his novice campaign. Start with a couple of little events at Kelso and Musselburgh in Autumn 2010 and work from there.
We’ve missed out on winning the Cheltenham Festival bumper, but these things happen!
Rob
In answer to Cormack’s queston; he’d be in his box at home !
Although the Triple Crown holds a dear place in the minds and hearts of all racing fans, the fact is that the St. Leger no longer has the same appeal that it once had.
There was a time when Derby winners ( and runners-up) would be trained with Doncaster in mind – rather than being aimed at the Arc – which is commonplace now.
Nijinsky ran in the St. Leger, not simply because Vincent O’Brien couldn’t find a suitable prep race for him, but primarily because American owner, Charles Englehard ( who also owned Ribocco and Ribero ) was obsessed with winning the English triple crown. It was already a part of Nijinsky’s overall training plan. Added to the fact that the opposition were simply not in Nijinsky’s class, the decision was, as they say now, a no-brainer.
Sure, Sea The Stars could well run – and run well. His cruising speed and class ( like Nijinsky’s ) would see him home in front. Tick St. Leger in his CV – and go down in history as the 16th Triple crown winner, but …
John Oxx wants to save him for another, tougher and sterner (?) test against better and older opposition than he’d meet at Doncaster.
Although the Arc is a possiblity – and there is even talk about the Breeder’s Cup Classic ( my preference ), I cannot help but come to the conclusion that Sea The Stars will side step both in favour of the Champion Stakes at Newmarket, before ending his illustrious career.
Gambling Only Pays When You're Winning
I know where I would have been if STS had run in the Leger – SAT IN MY LIVING ROOM GLUED TO THE TV SET. Instead I was sat at the Riverside watching Durham lift the county championship, as yet again the Leger failed to interest me enough to bother watching.
In my opinion a golden opportunity has been squandered here. The BHA should have been doing all in their power to persuade the connections of STS to run at Donny. It would have brought the Leger back into the conciousness of the nation, and if STS had won he would have been confirmed a LEGEND of the turf, instead of which he will just be remembered as another good horse.
I cant blame the connections too much for avoiding it, but if they had have gone for it they would literally have had nothing to lose.
Unfortunately however the rulers of racing have once more shown us how useless and incompetent they are by letting this chance slip through their fingers.
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I’m certain that Sea The Stars won’t be remembered as ‘just another good horse’ because he didn’t run in the Leger, Beeswing, but I’m equally certain that he’d have tw@tted that lot (it would have been an easy £300,000 if nothing else).
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An I the only one who understands the pharse "If he got the trip"? Very easy to assume….Horse hasn’t even run in a true run 1m4f race and you all got him winning a St Leger over an extended 1m6f.
He appears to be one of the best 1m2f most of you have ever seen some might even put him up there with the Brigadier. Horses as good as him at "A" specific distance dont get an extra 4 furlongs in my experience.
There is the thought that his class would have seen him through. One that I don’t totally subscribe to.
He is probably in the region of 20lbs. better than yesterday’s field over 10 furlongs, probably a little less over 12f., now how much, if anything, would he be over 14 1/2 ?
Sea The Stars will certainly stay the trip but would he be a 126 horse over the trip?
Colin
I would have run the horse in the Leger but then again, I’m local. John Oxx was desperate to run STS in front of his home crowd last week and he should be applauded for that.
What worries me in the long term is that racing’s fashionistas appear to be turning against the Derby in the same way as they turned against the Leger. That would be a serious problem imo.
He isn’t truly bred to stay & I think that he would have struggled in the last two furlongs & been beaten by a much inferior animal. True, Classic colts were aimed at this race in the past & took part whether they were stayers or not, some being beaten by horses thats attributes werre purely stamina. 50 years ago he would not have been bred this way for the classics any way & I agree with the previous poster, that the Derby & King George & Queen Elizabeth stakes are in danger of being the next casualties in the racing calendar.
It might even becoming possible that none stayers are winning these races anyway as so many horses competing in the classics are by milers or even sprinters. I read that Airborne was the only true stayer in the 1946 Derby & had he not been in the race Gulf Stream would have been declared a stayer.
I think that breeding, due to fashion is in a dangerous state in the world, soon they will have made the St Leger a G2 race & relagated the Derby to a mile & a quarter to accomodate all those horses from Green Desert & Danehill lines.
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