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 – John 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.
"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.
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."
