Bred and owned by Jean Terynck and trained by Etienne Pollet in Chantilly, France, Sea-Bird, also known as ‘Sea Bird II’, has the distinction of being the second-highest rated Flat horse of the Tiemform era, behind only Frankel. He is widely regarded as the best European racehorse of the twentieth century and, while he raced in Britain just once, such was the breathtaking ease with which he won the Derby at Epsom that he was voted British Horse of the Year in 1965.
Sea-Bird suffered the one and only defeat of his eight-race career when beaten by better-fancied stable companion Grey Dawn in the Grand Critérium, now the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardère, at Longchamp as a two-year-old. However, as a three-year-old he won the Prix Greffulhe at Saint-Cloud and the Prix Lupin at Longchamp with any amount in hand en route to Epsom.
Sent off 7/4 favourite for the Derby, Sea-Bird beat twenty-one rivals – the pick of which proved to be subsequent Irish Derby winner Meadow Court – by two lengths, eased down, with jockey Pat Glennon sitting motionless in the closing stages. A further facile success in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud followed, but Sea-Bird was not seen again in public until the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp in October, which was his final racecourse appearance.
Despite his absence and facing a field that included his old rival Meadow Court and Prix du Jockey Club winner Reliance, hitherto unbeaten, to name but two, Sea-Bird started 6/5 favourite and hardly gave his supporters an anxious moment. True, he did swerve right across the track in the closing stages, but was well clear of his nearest pursuer, Reliance, when he did so and passed the post six lengths ahead.