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Thursday, 30 July 2009: When Mao Tse Tung was asked, during Chinafs Cultural Revolution, what had been the consequences of the French Revolution two centuries earlier, he is said to have replied: eItfs too early to tell.f

Sea The Stars wins the Eclipse
Photo by Racing and Sports

It is tempting to proffer the same answer to questions about the place in racing history likely to be afforded to Sea The Stars, who followed in the footsteps of Nashwan when adding the Eclipse to his Two Thousand Guineas/Derby double.

John Oxx, the trainer of Sea The Stars, hits the nail on the head when he says eHe is only halfway through . . . he hasnft yet done what Sinndar did and is not yet rated even as high as Alamshar, and to be rated above them, with Nijinsky, Sea-Bird and the other greats, he has to go through to the end of the year and be tested, as the Bible says, glike gold in the furnaceh.f

Sinndar and Alamshar were both trained by Oxx for the Aga Khan. Alamshar won the Irish Derby and the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and was rated 133 at the end of his career. Sinndar, who was beaten only once, won five out of five as a three-year-old, including the Derby, Irish Derby and Prix de lfArc de Triomphe, after which he earned a Timeform

rating of 134.

Alamshar (third in the Derby) and Sinndar both continued to improve in the middle of the season, Sinndar leaving the impression he would still have had more to give if he had been kept in training after the Arc.

Somewhat surprisingly, the King George did not figure in Sinndarfs programme and Sea The Stars missed the Ascot race too, which, with the Arc, has traditionally provided the principal test of Europefs middle-distance horses.

Seeing that connections also seem unlikely to run Sea The Stars in the Prix de lfArc de Triomphe, his place in history will be defined by his performances in races which are, so to speak, not quite in the white heat of the racing efurnacef.

Sea The Stars looks like being tested in the second part of the season in the International at York and the Irish Champion Stakes, with the Champion at Newmarket also on the agenda if Sea The Stars misses the Arc.

Sea The Stars put up a better performance when winning the Eclipse„Ÿthe way Timeform reads the form-book„Ÿthan when winning the Two Thousand Guineas or the Derby. He pulled clear, with fellow three-year-old Rip Van Winkle, from a field containing some good older horses and the fast timefigure provided confirmation of the value of the form.

The performance„Ÿworth a Timeform rating of 133p„Ÿelevated Sea The Stars to the top of the Timeform global rankings and confirmed him as a tip-top classic winner.

The form shown by Sea The Stars in the Eclipse would have been good enough to win eight of the last ten renewals of the International and of the Irish Champion, and all of the last ten editions of the Champion at Newmarket.

Unless Sea The Stars wins by the length of a street„Ÿunlikely given his racing style and general demeanour„Ÿnone of those races is likely to tell us anything about the horse that isnft already known.
Sea The Starsf Eclipse form wouldnft give him such an outstanding chance if he were to contest the Arc, in which four of the last ten winners„ŸMontjeu, Sinndar, Sakhee and Hurricane Run„Ÿran to at least 134 at Longchamp.

Connections are said to be worried about soft ground for Sea The Stars (who won a maiden on soft at two), but the going has been softer than good only three times in the Arc in the last ten years and the last five editions have all been run on good or good to firm.

The defection of Sea The Stars from the Irish Derby, after heavy rain on the Friday before the race, left the way open for Derby runner-up Fame And Glory, who won by five lengths, actually showing slightly better form than Sea The Stars did at Epsom.

The Irish Oaks saw Sariska complete the Anglo-Irish Oaks double in great style and another of the eweaker sexf Fleeting Spirit showed herself the best European-trained sprinting filly since Lochsong when beating a strong and international field in the July Cup at Newmarket.

Among the highlights in America was the third successive Grade 1 victory for turf performer Gio Ponti, whose performance in winning the Man ofWar Stakes showed that he will provide solid opposition for the European challengers in races like the Arlington Million.

Leading Three Year Olds in Europe

133p Sea The Stars (Ire)

131 Rip Van Winkle (Ire)

129 Fame And Glory

126 Mastercraftsman (Ire)

125 Delegator

124p Sariska

124 Art Connoisseur (Ire)

124 Ghanaati (USA)

124 Le Havre (Ire)

123p Stacelita (Fr)

122p Cashelgar (Ire)

122 Amour Propre

122 Crowded House

122 Silver Frost (Ire)

Leading Older Horses in Europe

130 Conduit (Ire)

129 Goldikova (Ire)

129 Paco Boy (Ire)

129 Septimus (Ire)

129 Soldier of Fortune (Ire)

128 Itfs Gino (Ger)

128 Vision dfEtat (Fr)

128 Yeats (Ire)

127 Casual Conquest (Ire)

127 Fleeting Spirit (Ire)

127 Main Aim

127 Presvis

127 Tartan Bearer (Ire)

Leading Three Year Olds in North America

129 Rachel Alexandra

126 Mine That Bird

124 Summer Bird

123 Quality Road

122 Friesan Fire

122 Gozzip Girl

121 The Pamplemousse

120 Dunkirk

119 General Quarters

118 Charitable Man

118 Musket Man

118 Old Fashioned

118 Stardom Bound

Leading Older Horses in North America

131 Well Armed

128 Zenyatta

126 Commentator

126 Gio Ponti

125 Cannonball

124 Georgie Boy

123 Albertus Maximus

123 Fabulous Strike

123 In Summation

122 Asiatic Boy

122 Benny The Bull

122 Einstein

122 Ventura

TIMEFORM GLOBAL RANKINGS

THE GLOBAL LIST

(including Royal Ascot)

1 133p Sea The Stars J M Oxx, Ireland

2= 131 Rip Van Winkle A P OfBrien, Ireland

2= 131 Well Armed E Harty, USA

4= 130 Conduit Sir Michael Stoute, GB

4= 130 Sacred Kingdom P F Yiu, Hong Kong

6= 129 Fame And Glory A P OfBrien, Ireland

6= 129 Goldikova F Head, France

6= 129 Paco Boy R Hannon, GB

6= 129 Rachel Alexandra H R Wiggins, USA

6= 129 Septimus A P OfBrien, Ireland

6= 129 Soldier of Fortune A P OfBrien, Ireland

6= 129 Weekend Hussler R McDonald, Australia

13= 128 Itfs Gino P Vovcenko, Germany

13= 128 Scenic Blast D Morton, Australia

13= 128 Takeover Target J Janiak, Australia

13= 128 Vision dfEtat E Libaud, France

13= 128 Yeats A P OfBrien, Ireland

13= 128 Zenyatta J A Shirreffs, USA

19= 127 Big City Man J Mullins, USA

19= 127 Casual Conquest D K Weld, Ireland

19= 127 Fleeting Spirit J Noseda, GB

19= 127 Main Aim Sir Michael Stoute, GB

19= 127 Presvis L Cumani, GB

19= 127 Tartan Bearer Sir Michael Stoute, GB

25 126+ Overdose S Ribarszki, Hungary

26= 126 Apache Cat G Eurell, Australia

26= 126 Archipenko M F de Kock, South Africa

26= 126 Commentator N P Zito, USA

26= 126 Gio Ponti C Clement, USA

26= 126 Mastercraftsman A P OfBrien, Ireland

26= 126 Mine That Bird B L Woolley, Jnr, USA

26= 126 Never On Sunday J-C Rouget, France

26= 126 Pompeii Ruler M Price, Australia

NUMBER 1 BY NATION

Number 1 in Australia 129 Weekend Hussler R McDonald

Number 1 in Canada a123 Fatal Bullet R Baker

Number 1 in France 129 Goldikova F Head

Number 1 in Germany 128 Itfs Gino P Vovcenko

Number 1 in GB 130 Conduit Sir Michael Stoute

Number 1 in HK 130 Sacred Kingdom P F Yiu

Number 1 in IRE 133p Sea The Stars J M Oxx

Number 1 in Italy 119 Selmis V Caruso

Number 1 in Japan } 125 Deep Sky M Kon

} 125 Vodka K Sumi

Number 1 in NZ 122 Nom du Jeu M Baker

Number 1 in the UAE 124 Two Step Salsa S bin Suroor

Number 1 in the USA a131 Well Armed E Harty

The Timeform Rating is the merit of a horse expressed in pounds and is arrived at by careful examination of the horsefs performances against those of others. The ratings range from 130+ for top-class performers down to around 20 for the poorest. Symbols attached to the ratings: epf–likely to improvef ePf–capable of much better form; e+f–the horse may be better than we have been able to rate it; e˜f–the horse is unreliable; e?f–the rating is suspect.