Sea the Stars

Sir Mark Prescott will happily recount the story of the time he bashed his former pupil assistant William Haggas over the head with a frying pan for oversleeping. He will also reflect with pleasure on the great pride he felt when Haggas won the Derby in 1996 with Shaamit (Ire). When it comes to being a benevolent dictator, the Prescott pendulum has, by his own admission, swung more from dictatorship towards benevolence in recent years and, more than anyone involved in British racing, the master of Heath House cares deeply...

Gwen Monneraye and Lucie Lamotte, collectively known as La Motteraye Consignment, have come a long way since setting up their business in December 2009 with €92 in their pocket. Less than a decade later they topped France's premier yearling sale in 2018 when selling a Dubawi (Ire) colt out of Just The Judge (Ire) for €1.4 million, and at this year's Arqana August Sale their draft is headed by another yearling with two Classic-winning parents. The Sea The Stars (Ire) filly, who will have the lot number 234 attached to...

GOODWOOD, UK--The banner on Trundle Hill overlooking Goodwood read, 'Thank You Stradivarius'. Inside the racecourse the message was repeated on branded flags, readied to wave him on his way. But it would seem that Stradivarius is not for retiring. And hurrah to that.  It is almost poetic, in a bloodstock kinda way, that two of the best horses of the modern era, Derby-winning half-brothers no less, should feature in an epic battle between their two sons for a race that was so much more than just the Goodwood Cup.  For...

We have heard much about Frankie Dettori since his ride in the Gold Cup at Ascot, but less so about his luckless mount, Stradivarius (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}). By his owner and breeder Bjorn Nielsen he is referred to as 'The Strad', talked of as one would a favourite son or best friend. The eight-year-old stallion has earned his place in Nielsen's heart, just as he has earned the wider affection of the racing public. He remains equine box office, with this season regarded by many as a prolonged...

Paddy Twomey has admitted that the disqualification of Rosscarbery (Ger) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) from third spot in Sunday's Alwasmiyah Pretty Polly S. after her rider Wayne Lordan weighed in 5lbs light took the gloss off the fact that he recorded his first Group 1 success in the race with La Petite Coco (Ire) (Ruler Of The World {Ire}). The trainer described himself as "disappointed and upset" that Rosscarbery, supplemented for the Curragh Group 1 at a cost of €30,000 to the filly's owner Robert Moran, missed out on prize-money...

Owen Burrows has been dealt a hammer blow with the news that brilliant G1 Coronation Cup winner Hukum (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) will miss the rest of the season after fracturing his hind leg.  Hukum made the breakthrough at the highest level when storming to Coronation Cup glory at Epsom on Friday and now his racing career hangs in the balance.  For Burrows, Friday's win also represented a memorable first at Group 1 level, with the trainer describing the success as "massive" at the time.  However, just three days...

Kick-starting a new weekly Q&A series in TDN Europe, former champion trainer John Oxx, whose spellbinding career will forever be remembered through his masterful handling of Sea The Stars (Ire) (Cape Cross {Ire}), Sinndar (Ire) (Grand Lodge) and Ridgewood Pearl (GB) (Indian Ridge {Ire}), sat down with Brian Sheerin to talk all things racing and breeding. The dual Derby-winning trainer speaks about Epsom, how delighted he is that Sea The Stars has a top-notch miler in Baaeed and his life in retirement.   Brian Sheerin: There are few weeks in...

On the day of this year's French Guineas, Jean Lesbordes perused the runners in the paddock for the Prix de la Seine, made his way to the stands to watch the race, and then back to the winner's enclosure for another look at the victrix Hidden Dimples (Ire), a daughter of Frankel (GB). Thirty years earlier, Lesbordes had a much stronger connection to the winner of the same race. He was her trainer and the filly's name was Urban Sea. The fact that her name appears in the third generation...

Few broodmares carry a more impressive combination than Repose (Quiet American), who landed a left and right hook with State Of Rest (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}) and Tranquil Lady (Ire) (Australia {GB}), and she's far from finished after it was announced this week that she would be joining the Juddmonte broodmare band after a deal was struck with Tinnakill House Stud. Dermot Cantillon, the man behind Tinnakill, of which Group 1 winners Alexander Goldrun, Red Evie, Casamento and more recently State Of Rest are graduates, revealed that the Repose story is...

The bookmaker Fitzdares makes Dubawi (Ire) 13/8 favourite to be champion sire for the first time. Darley's 20-year-old elite sire was third in last year's table in Britain and Ireland behind Frankel (GB) and Galileo (Ire), and he enjoyed an annus mirabilis on the international stage, becoming the first stallion to be responsible for three Grade I winners at the same Breeders' Cup meeting in Yibir (GB), Space Blues (Ire) and Modern Games (Ire). Juddmonte's reigning champion Frankel is second-favourite to retain his title at 15/8, with the 12-time champion Galileo (Ire),...

The mantra of breeding the best to the best can really only be followed by those with access to mares classy enough to be courted by the world's elite stallions. And if you're fortunate enough to be in that bracket, then sending your Oaks winner to a Derby winner could be deemed an obvious place to start.  We lost the most influential Derby winner of the modern era almost a year ago but it will be a while before Galileo (Ire) retreats too far back in pedigrees. In his first...

Godolphin's Manobo (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) stamped himself a stayer for the future with a victory in the G2 Prix Chaudenay at ParisLongchamp in October, and the progressive 4-year-old reaffirmed that position with a stirring 5 1/2-length victory on seasonal return in Friday's G3 Nad Al Sheba Trophy at Meydan to remain unbeaten in five starts. Making his debut at Newbury last May, Manobo headed Mojo Star (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) just two weeks before that one went on to finish second to Adayar (GB) (Frankel {GB}) in...