Tag Archive for: John Oxx

Oxx still proud to be on Irish Champion Stakes roll of honour

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John Oxx will always be remembered as the trainer of the great Sea The Stars, but his victory in the Irish Champion Stakes of 2009 was a third in the Leopardstown spectacular for the Currabeg handler.

His first success in Irish racing’s premier race came back in 1996 with the Aga Khan’s smart filly Timarida, but come the turn of the century, he was a frequent visitor to its paddock.

Alamshar was a beaten 5-4 favourite in 2003, a year later Azamour took the spoils, but in 2005 when strongly fancied to follow up he pulled a muscle when slipping on the bend.

“We had some good horses and the Irish Champion was quite a good race for us, starting with Timarida in 1996 and then into the 2000s,” said Oxx, one of the sport’s true gentleman and never one to blow his own trumpet.

John Oxx trained some high-class horses through his distinguished career
John Oxx trained some high-class horses through his distinguished career (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

“I had two great fillies at the time in Timarida and Ridgewood Pearl. Ridgewood Pearl won the four Group Ones in 1995, but Timarida was winning the other races like the Matron, the Prix de l’Opera and the E.P. Taylor. They weren’t Group Ones at the time, but are now because of fillies like her.

“We kept her on at four to win a Group One and she won three. She was high class, I never had better fillies than those two and they came at the same time.

“She won the Champion easy, she had a great turn of foot, she went all over the world, too.”

Alamshar ran in what is regarded as one of the best races ever to have been staged in Ireland.

“With Alamshar, it was obviously disappointing not to win – having won the Irish Derby beating Dalakhani and following up in the King George, we fancied him to win,” said Oxx.

“But that was a hell of a race that year, the first four were all top-class horses (High Chaparral, Falbrav, Islington, Alamshar) and I think it was the highest-rated race in the world that year and one of the best Irish Champion Stakes of all time.

“He was only beaten a couple of lengths but he was quite a small horse and the same thing happened to him that happened at Epsom in the Derby, he had horses around him and got a bit intimidated, he was 15:2 (hands), a lovely looking horse but not big.

“High Chaparral was on his outside through the race and Mick Kinane had him tight against the rail and he didn’t really like it.

“Maybe he found the ground on the fast side, too. He still ran well and got a rating of 125 or 126 for that race, but at the end of the year he was rated 131. It was a good run, even though we were initially disappointed.

“It was a controversial race of course, with a stewards’ inquiry and an appeal, but Mick did a super job that day to win on High Chaparral, who was a great horse.”

Azamour came with a late run to beat Norse Dancer
Azamour came with a late run to beat Norse Dancer (Haydn West/PA)

A year later, Azamour was on the scene for Oxx, owner the Aga Khan and Kinane and arrived widely forgotten, having not been seen since winning the St James’s Palace Stakes. But Oxx had always wanted to step him up in trip.

“Azamour had thrived physically between the spring and the autumn, he’d put on weight because he was a big, tall horse and he took time to reach his best,” he said.

“He was unfortunate in the English Guineas because the ground came up soft, but he ran a cracker looking like he needed further, then I still don’t know how he lost in the Irish Guineas to this day to Bachelor Duke.

“Instead of going up in trip to the Derby, which he would have nearly won, the owners wanted to try the St James’s Palace over a mile for his CV and with that under our belt, we could stretch him out.

“We did fancy him for the Champion Stakes, but Michael had him a long way back. He just liked riding him that way and he came thundering up the straight. He said he always knew he’d get there, but only did so in the last 50 yards.”

The following year, Azamour was a 6-4 favourite to beat the Derby winner Motivator, Alexander Goldrun and Grey Swallow, only for Oratorio to see them all off.

“In the next year, Christophe Soumillon rode him, as Michael had broken his wrist, but unfortunately he pulled a muscle when he slipped up on the bend,” said Oxx.

“We got him back for the Breeders’ Cup Turf, where he was unfortunate, he didn’t have a great run and was third to Shirocco. I thought he should have won.

“He was a horse Michael liked to hold up and come through horses, of course you’ll have good days and bad doing that. When he had a long straight like at York in the Prince of Wales’s, when Ascot was closed, and the King George at Newbury, that suited him.”

The story of Sea The Stars needs little introduction, six Group Ones in six glorious months – although only one in his homeland, the 2009 Irish Champion Stakes.

Oxx said: “We really wanted him to run in Ireland, but it almost didn’t happen as we’d had torrential rain that week and nobody thought he’d run, the bookmakers had him 6-1 to even run!

“Leopardstown has great drainage and missed the heavy rain of elsewhere and the ground was OK. We made up our minds the night before to run, a lot of people thought he wasn’t going to so made other plans, but it was great to run him.

“It was a great race to run in, the timing was perfect before the Arc and it got him his highest rating because it was the only time he went and really stretched away, as normally he only just did enough but he won by two and a half lengths – Mick always said he’d never win by more than a length!

“It’s a fantastic race, all the greats are on the roll of honour and I think it’s down to the timing. It can be a lead-up race to the Arc, the Champion Stakes in England or the Breeders’ Cup.”

Oxx believes Troy can capitalise on wide-open Breeders’ Cup

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John Oxx, trainer of the great Sea The Stars, feels this could be the perfect year for Aidan O’Brien to finally crack the Breeders’ Cup Classic with City Of Troy.

Having won the Derby, Eclipse and Juddmonte International, breaking Sea The Stars’ track record in the latter, O’Brien and the Coolmore partners see him as the perfect horse to take on the best of America on dirt.

His sire is American Triple Crown winner Justify which gives hope he will take to the dirt surface, and Oxx is of the opinion there is no real standout horse in the States this year.

Sea The Stars was retired after winning the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in 2009 rather than head to the Breeders’ Cup and at the time, that year’s host Santa Anita had laid a Polytrack surface, which is similar to the all-weather tracks in Europe.

Sea The Stars with John Oxx
Sea The Stars with John Oxx (Niall Carson/PA)

“The owner was never really that interested in going and because of having had Urban Sea (Sea The Stars’ dam who won the Arc), we were always going for the Arc,” said Oxx.

“I did leave it open because I didn’t want to insult the Breeders’ Cup people, who do a great job, by saying we had no interest. That year it was in Santa Anita on the Pro-Ride that John Gosden’s Raven’s Pass beat Henrythenavigator on to give Europe a one-two the year before, so it was on a surface that the turf horses could have taken to.

“So that is why we in theory we left it open, but once he’d won all those six races, including the Arc, enough was enough we felt.”

While Justify is proving himself as a versatile stallion producing top dirt and turf horses, City Of Troy’s dam, Together Forever, was a turf horse.

He is currently a best-priced 7-2 favourite for Del Mar, ahead of the Todd Pletcher-trained Fierceness, who has bounced back from Kentucky Derby disappointment to twice get his head in front, most recently in the Travers Stakes at Saratoga that was once mooted as a possible target for City Of Troy. Next in the market is Japan’s Forever Young, who has not run since his excellent third to Mystik Dan at Churchill Downs.

City Of Troy is building up an impressive record
City Of Troy is building up an impressive record (John Walton/PA)

“City Of Troy is half-dirt bred whereas Giant’s Causeway (beaten a nose in the Classic for O’Brien) had it on both sides, his dam was a very good performer on the dirt. Johannesburg (winner of the Juvenile on dirt) had it on both sides too,” said Oxx.

“It’s something Coolmore are very keen to do and it is something John Magnier is keen to show, that stallions can get both types.

“This year there is no outstanding three-year-old and the four-year-old division is weak, so it is probably the year to try it.

“He’s been an interesting horse to watch all right, and a pretty good one too. It will be interesting to see how it goes.”

So many great memories for John Oxx with Sea The Stars

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John Oxx has gained as much pleasure from the second career of Sea The Stars as he did from his days on the track.

Known as the quiet man of the training ranks before his retirement – every inch a gentleman – Oxx would never be one to shout his achievements from the rooftops.

But what he was able to achieve with Sea The Stars – six Group Ones in six months – will forever ensure Oxx’s name is up there with the legends of the Turf and his greatest horse has now been inducted into the Qipco British Champions Series Hall of Fame.

That Sea The Stars has produced his own champions like Harzand, Stradivarius and more recently Baaeed has given the softly-spoken Oxx a continued interest in the game.

“There was always going to be a second career for a horse like that and it’s a relief to see it going so well. We’ve all seen great horses go off to stud and not be so successful,” said Oxx.

Sea The Stars was impressive in the 2000 Guineas
Sea The Stars was impressive in the 2000 Guineas (Chris Radburn/PA)

“In his case he was such a brilliant horse, had such a good pedigree allied with a brilliant temperament – all the qualities that would have made it a surprise if he wasn’t a success at stud. But it’s still nice to see it happen.

“Every year he’s had good horses, but with Baaeed last year – to get one at that type of level and that rating, that’s difficult for those great horses to do.”

Asked if he felt under pressure at the time to be sent a half-brother to Galileo, Oxx said: “We were excited to be sent such a nice horse with his pedigree and looks, you already think you’ve half a chance. I didn’t feel pressure, the owner didn’t put any on us.

“The pressure built later on as he started some fast work and started to show his ability – then it built and built all the time then!

“With each race and new horizon conquered, along with it came a lot of pressure and a lot of responsibility, just making sure he was all right and ready to run.”

Sea The Stars was only beaten once in his career, on debut, which at least meant Oxx did not have the extra stress of maintaining a perfect winning streak.

“I don’t know about the pressure of keeping an unbeaten record intact, you always need to be prepared for a horse to lose a race, it doesn’t always tarnish their record. I always felt first time out it was nice to give them a race where they learned something,” said Oxx.

Sea The Stars followed up his Guineas win in the Derby
Sea The Stars followed up his Guineas win in the Derby (Daniel Hambury/PA)

Having won the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket first time out at three, with Oxx eschewing a trial, only one race was then on his mind.

“Once he won the Guineas, the dream then was always to win the Derby, it was certainly mine as it is the Holy Grail in my book – to have a Guineas winner and then four weeks later win the Derby over 50 per cent further on a totally different track,” he said.

“Everything else afterwards could look after itself. We wanted him to be a Guineas-Derby winner, but then of course once you’ve won a Guineas you start to wonder will he stay in the Derby!

“He was an aggressive racer, but he was in the perfect position at Epsom and the first thing Mick (Kinane) said to me on coming back was ‘well Plan A worked anyway’.”

Having already won the Guineas and the Derby, Sea The Stars went on a Group One-winning spree which will ensure he will be remembered for decades to come.

“In the Eclipse, it was a record time after they went a ferocious pace. He followed the leaders, but the pacemakers collapsed two furlongs out and he was in front too soon, he always pulled up a bit in front as he thought he’d won,” remembers Oxx.

“A furlong out he thought he’d already won and Rip Van Winkle was a very good horse. He put it up to him, but in the end he pulled away and won nicely. Jimmy Fortune, who rode Rip Van Winkle, told me later ‘your fella was only playing with me’.

“You always worry in a horse race as anything can happen and at York in the International we had three of Aidan’s (O’Brien) to beat and that was it. Two pacemakers and Mastercraftsman and the front two made a gap for Mastercraftsman which Mick also went through.

“However, he then took a pull and he just went to sleep for a little bit and he had to say ‘go’ twice to him. He was a little bit sluggish getting back up, but in the end he won easy enough again – and that was a record time. Aidan told me afterwards that was the best he’d ever had Mastercraftsman that day.

“When Mick got off him at York it had been six weeks since the Eclipse and he said he needed that run, it would bring him on. Sure enough at Leopardstown in the Irish Champion Stakes he then put up what the handicappers said was his best ever performance.

“That was nice for the Irish crowd to see him. It was just about the only race he won by a decent margin as we could never get him to win by far! Because there was a doubt about him running the crowd might not have been what it may have been, but they certainly gave him some reception.”

As ever with a champion horse in Europe, the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe was on the horizon. But it did not all go according to plan.

“The big thing in the Arc was when he looked in that bit of bother. I didn’t mind him being back in the field because the main horses to beat weren’t that far in front of him,” said Oxx.

“It was Getaway who was in front of him and he was going for the gap that we needed to get. Mick had to accelerate to get around him, which he did. Stephane Pasquier was on Getaway and later told me he couldn’t believe a horse could do that, but when he got to the gap I was able to breathe a sigh of relief.”

Oxx believes the fact Sea The Stars was able to win the 2000 Guineas at the start of his magical season, despite an interrupted preparation, is the perfect advertisement of his greatness.

He added: “The only hold-up we had all year was back on March 17 when he had a temperature of 103, which was a huge disappointment at the time.

“Because of his constitution he was back and did a bit of fast work two weeks later. Other horses couldn’t have done that. The fact he could win the Guineas the first Saturday in May is very unusual after a temperature like that. That shows you a lot about him.

“We knew he was one of the greats after he won the Guineas and the Derby, so we had to run him in all those races. He missed the King George, but he had to have a little pause and that was the only one he missed. He had to win a sequence to prove himself as one of the greats. It’s a rarity and thank goodness it happened, there won’t be many in 100 years that do it.”