Sea Bird

Sea-Bird (1962–1973) was a French Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a career which lasted from 1964 until October 1965 he ran eight times and won seven races. Sea Bird is most famous for his victories in two of Europe's most prestigious races: the Epsom Derby and the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. His Timeform rating of 145 remained the highest flat figure awarded by that publication for almost fifty years.^[1]

Background

Sea-Bird was a chestnut horse with a narrow white blaze and white socks on his hind legs bred at the stables of his owner, the Lille textile manufacturer Jean Ternynck. Sea-Bird was sired by the French Derby runner-up Dan Cupid, and trained, like his sire, in France by Etienne Pollet at Chantilly. None of his five immediate dams ever won a flat race, although his great-grandam Couleur did produce Camaree, who won the 1000 Guineas in 1950, and Sea Bird was more distantly related to the Belmont Stakes winner High Echelon.^[2]

Name

In France, the horse was known as Sea-Bird, a practice followed by many modern writers.^{[1][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]} When racing abroad and standing at stud he was usually referred to as "Sea Bird II".^[10][11] He was referred to as "Sea-Bird II" by Timeform.^[12]

Racing career

1964: two-year-old season

Sea-Bird started in three races as a two-year-old, winning his first two, the Prix de Blaison at Chantilly by a short head (started slowly) and the Critérium de Maisons-Laffitte by two lengths from Blabla (who won the Prix de Diane the following year). He met with the only defeat of his career in the Grand Critérium when second to his stablemate Grey Dawn, who was the favourite after winning the Prix Morny and the Prix de la Salamandre. Sea-Bird started slowly, as he had done in his two wins, but made up a great deal of ground in the straight to finish second, two lengths behind Grey Dawn. Maurice Larraun, Sea-Bird's jockey, appeared to have given the horse too much to do and never rode Sea-Bird again. At the end of the season, Sea-Bird was rated three pounds inferior to Grey Dawn by the official French handicapper.^[6]

1965: three-year-old season

As a three-year-old, Sea-Bird won all five starts, starting with a three-length win in the Prix Greffulhe. He next appeared in the Prix Lupin, which he won by six lengths from Diatome.

In the Epsom Derby, Sea-Bird started at the 7/4 favourite in a field of twenty two. There was an incident the night before the race in which police and security staff repelled a gang which had attempted to enter the stable of the 2000 Guineas winner Niksar.^[13] Before the race, Sea-Bird was described as looking "plain and high". He raced on the outside behind the leaders until the turn into the straight and then moved up to take the lead on the bridle with Glennon sitting "still as a statue".^[14] Sea-Bird won effortlessly by two lengths, never coming off the bit, from Meadow Court, who went on to win the Irish Derby and the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, with I Say in third.^[15] In July, Sea-Bird ran in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, which he won, easing down, by two and a half lengths from Couroucou.^[16] He was then rested until the autumn.

In the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, Sea-Bird faced a very strong field, including Irish Derby winner Meadow Court, Preakness winner Tom Rolfe, French Derby (Prix du Jockey Club) winner Reliance, Prix de Diane winner Blabla and Russian Derby winner Anilin. Starting at odds of 6/5, Sea Bird won easily despite veering across the track, with jockey Pat Glennon patting him down the neck in the final 100 yards, by six lengths (though photographs of the finish show it to have been closer to four and a half lengths) from Reliance. Five lengths further back in third place was Diatome (though photographs show it to have been closer to four lengths), who went on to win the Washington, D.C. International. Fourth place went to Free Ride, fifth was Anilin and sixth was Tom Rolfe.^[17]

Assessment and honors

Sea-Bird was given an annual rating of 145 by Timeform in 1965.^[5] This remained the highest rating awarded by the organisation until Frankel's performance in the 2012 Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot was rated 147.^[1]

Despite having run only once in the United Kingdom, Sea-Bird was voted British Horse of the Year by the Racegoers' club in 1965, taking 228 of the 240 votes.^[5]

In their book A Century of Champions, John Randall and Tony Morris rated Sea-Bird the greatest racehorse of the 20th century, one pound ahead of Secretariat and two pounds ahead of Ribot and Brigadier Gerard.^[6]

Stud career

Prior to the running of his final race, the American breeder John W. Galbreath paid owner Jean Ternynck a reported $1,350,000 to lease Sea-Bird for five years' stud duty at his Darby Dan Farm in Kentucky. Among Sea Bird II's progeny were the dual French classic and 1974 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winning mare Allez France (who had a Timeform rating of 136, making her still, according to that publication, the highest ever rated middle distance racemare); the 1974 Preakness and Belmont Stakes winner Little Current; the Champion Hurdle winner Sea Pigeon; and Gyr, second in the 1970 Epsom Derby behind the English Triple Crown winner Nijinsky II. Sea-Bird sired the dams of King's Swan, who was known as the "King of Aqueduct", Miss Oceana, a millionaire in racing who sold as a broodmare for a world record US$7 million, and the half brothers Assert, the French Derby and Irish Derby winner, and Bikala, who won the French Derby. Sea Bird was also the grandsire (through his son Arctic Tern) of the French Derby winner Bering.

Pedigree

References

• Great Racehorses of the World, Roger Mortimer and Peter Willett, Michael Joseph 1969, p. 221–225

External links

• Video at YouTube of Sea Bird's win in the 1965 Epsom Derby
• YouTube video of Sea Bird's win in the 1965 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe