From Today’s Daily Telegraph: (Marcus Armytage)
Sea The Stars - as good as Nashwan say ratings
Sea The Stars has not only emulated Nashwan on the racecourse by winning the 2000 Guineas, Derby and Saturday’s Coral-Eclipse but the British Horseracing Authority’s senior handicapper, Phil Smith, yesterday allotted him the same rating as the Dick Hern-trained colt who carried all before him in 1989.
Nashwan of course won the Guineas, The Derby and The Eclipse, as emulated by Sea The Stars.
After consulting his Irish counterpart, Gary O’Gorman, Smith gave Sea The Stars a rating of 131. No other Derby winner since Nashwan has been given such a high rating at this stage of the season, the highest achievers tending to earn their best rating later on, just as New Approach (130) did last year in the Champion Stakes.
“It’s obviously a fantastic level for this stage of a three-year-old’s career,” explained Smith, “which makes him the same horse as Nashwan ,which is coincidental because I did not sit down to calculate it that way. The front two were some way clear and the third (Conduit), fourth (Cima De Triomphe), fifth (Steel Tango) and sixth (Jukebox Jury) all fit like a glove. The form looks great, the time was fantastic – way short of the standard on that ground and only a second outside Kalaglow’s course record. That’s why we’ve given Sea The Stars a rating of 131 and Rip Van Winkle, the runner-up, a rating of 128.”
The runner-up’s rating makes him Ballydoyle’s best three-year-old colt despite the fact that he is yet to win a race this season. However, Smith added that the Irish Derby winner Fame And Glory’s rating, currently 127, may well be reviewed upwards by a pound this week.
The mid-term report for this year’s Classic generation is glowing. “To have three three-year-olds rated so highly at this stage is even more amazing,” said Smith.
Where Sea The Stars goes next has already been the subject of discussions between John Oxx, Mick Kinane and the owners. His long-term objective – with the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe almost ruled out because it is run on softish ground four times out of five – is the Irish Champion Stakes on Sept 5, which would be his first run on home soil this season.
The options beforehand are either the King George at Ascot on July 25 or the International at York on Aug 18. Nashwan went to Ascot for an epic encounter with Cacoethes andthe King George is a race close to Oxx’s heart having won it with both Alamshar and Azamour. But he was leaning heavily towards York yesterday, because it will give his colt an extra three weeks to recover from his latest exertions.
The King George’s image as the high-point of the British racing summer has suffered in recent years from substandard fields (though not substandard winners), the loss of long-term sponsor De Beers and a huge hike in the prize-money of the Arc. The presence of Sea The Stars in Betfair’s first year as sponsor would return its’ former glory – but it appears Ascot faces an uphill battle to attract him.
Timeform give Eclipse winner 133p rating
TIMEFORM today gave Saturday’s Coral Eclipse winner, Sea The Stars, a rating of 133p, which sees him ranked as the best horse in the world.
Such an exalted rating means Sea The Stars is the highest rated Eclipse winner since Nashwan, the last horse to complete the 2000 Guineas, Derby and Eclipse treble back in 1989.
Kieran Packman, Timeform’s spokesman, commented: “Sea The Stars was already top of an above-average 3-y-o tree, but this Eclipse performance takes him to new heights and it unquestionably stamps him as the very best around, elevating him to the top-rated horse in training even on the bare form achieved, not to mention the slight extra he’s value for.
“The calibre of his performance on Saturday is also backed up by the timefigure, which is an excellent 132. Sea The Stars’ whole demeanour is outstanding and it goes without saying that he’ll be extremely hard to beat going forward.
“It will certainly be interesting if connections attempt to match Nashwan’s next step in the Betfair King George at Ascot (Nashwan won by a neck at odds of 2-9).”
