According to Timeform, Sea The Stars ranks alongside the likes of Shergar and Dancing Brave as the joint-eighth highest-rated Flat horse since ratings were first published in 1948. Owned by Hong Kong businessman Christopher Tsui and trained by John Oxx in Co. Kildare, Ireland, Sea The Stars won eight of his nine starts between July, 2008 and October, 2009. Indeed, in a stellar three-year-old campaign, the son of Cape Cross won six consecutive Group One races; in so doing, he became the first horse since Nashwan, in 1989, to win the 2,000 Guineas, Derby and Coral-Eclipse, and the first horse ever to win the 2,000 Guineas, Derby and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in the same season.

Sea The Stars raced three times as a juvenile, winning twice, including the Group Two Beresford Stakes at the Curragh on his final start. He reappeared in the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket the following May and, despite an interrupted preparation and the lack of a preparatory race, took the measure of the favourite, Delegator, heading into the final furlong and asserted in the closing stages to win by a length-and-a-half. Commenting on the prevailing good to firm going, which Sea The Stars was experiencing for the first time, regular partner Mick Kinane said afterwards, ‘He’s been crying out for this ground.’

Just over a month later, Sea The Stars faced six rivals trained by Aidan O’Brien – the pick of which proved to be Fame And Glory, who was sent off favourite – on his first attempt at a mile-and-half in the Derby at Epsom. Having travelled well into the race at the two-furlong marker, he took over from the front-running Golden Sword entering the final furlong and, thereafter, never really looked like being caught.

Sea The Stars started odds-on for his next three starts, in the Coral-Eclipse at Sandown, the Juddmonte International Stakes at York and the Tattersalls Millions Irish Champion Stakes, all of which he won. He started odds-on, once again, in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp, despite facing 18 rivals, nine of whom were Group One winners. He did give his supporters an anxious moment when seemingly boxed in as the field turned into the straight but, once in the clear, produced a blistering turn of foot to win, eased down, by two lengths.

Sea The Stars with an impressive showing in the 2009 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe

Bred and owned by John Arthur Dewar and trained by Fred Darling at Beckhampton, Wiltshire, Tudor Minstrel is probably best remembered for spreadeagling the field in the 1947 2,000 Guineas. Unbeaten in four starts as a juvenile, including the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot, Tudor Minstrel made a winning reappearance at Bath en route to the Newmarket Classic, for which he started 11/8 favourite. On the Rowley Mile, Tudor Minstrel made all the running and won by eight lengths, which reportedly could have been twenty, with jockey Gordon Richards sitting up in the saddle throughout the final furlong.

All told, Tudor Minstrel won eight of his ten starts in 1946 and 1947, with his two defeats coming when tried over middle distances, in the Derby and the Eclipse Stakes. His most notable failure came in the Derby, in which he was sent off 4/7 favourite, but ruined his chance by failing to settle in the early stages and continually hanging right-handed. He eventually weakened to finish fourth, at a respectful distance, behind 40/1 outsider Pearl Diver. Back at a mile, Tudor Minstrel regained the winning thread in the St. James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot, but his stamina limitations were exposed, once again, when tried over a mile-and-a-quarter in the Eclipse Stakes at Sandown; although more amenable to restraint than he had been at Epsom, he was essentially outstayed by future Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Migoli.

Awarding Tudor Minstrel a rating of 144 – which was, until 1965, the highest rating awarded to any Flat horse – Timeform added the caveat that he ‘became much too headstrong and would not give himself a chance of staying’. However, even today, his rating has only been surpassed by two horses, Sea-Bird and Frankel.

Tudor Minstrel taking part in the 1947 Derby. Certainly not his best showing by all accounts