How can Flat racing keep its public enthused when the moment a superstar emerges he is whisked away to other duties? Winning the 2000 Guineas, the Derby, the Coral Eclipse, the Juddmonte International, the Irish Champion Stakes and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, Sea The Stars gave us a glorious summer. But at only three, before you can say ‘how was it for you?’, he is off to the breeding sheds to meet a bevy of equine lovelies and racing must begin the search for the next Great One. It is as if Beckham and Ronaldo had been whisked off permanently to a life of TV celebrity shows before they had played in a World Cup, as if Botham and Shane Warne had been retired to the commentary box before ever playing an Ashes series. Sea The Stars will never prove himself against the next wave.
That could be one reason why, while Flat racing fights for survival, the audience for jump racing continues to grow, why more and more people are attracted to the winter sport despite the battles with the elements and the injury toll.
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