#ArcRoad : Sea of Class splashes in the mix
Photo PA images / Icon Sport / scoopdyga.com
Easy winner of the Darley Irish Oaks (Gr1) Saturday at the Curragh, Sea of Class (Sea the Stars) has thus become one of the potential champions of the season. Trained in England by William Haggas, she beat the Epsom Oaks winner Forever Together, as well as Magic Wand, winner of the Ribblesdale Stakes (Gr2), the Royal Ascot meeting's Oaks.
The representative of the Chinese owner Ling Tsui and her son Christopher is not entered in the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (Gr1) but her Irish performance makes it very tempting to pay €120,000 to supplement her in the €5m race ...
William Haggas immediately said he was thinking about such a venture, with a stopover at either York or ParisLongchamp for the Qatar Prix Vermeille (Gr1) in the meantime.
The British and Irish bookmakers have in any case placed Sea of Class in the top six contenders for Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe this year at odds ranging from 12/1 to 16/1, in the same range as QIPCO Prix du Jockey Club (Gr1) winner Study of Man (Deep Impact).
The Tsui family has already won the big French showdown twice, as Urban Sea (Miswaki) wore Ms. Tsui's colors in 1993, and her son Sea the Stars (Cape Cross), winner of the 2009 renewal and sire of Sea of Class, ran for Christopher Tsui.
Next step on the Arc road Saturday in Ascot with the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (Gr1), a summer version of the ParisLongchamp showpiece won last year by Enable (Nathaniel), aimed at the York Ebor meeting this season.