who is better? sea the stars or zarkava

[bdw0617]

who is condered to be the better horse of the two?

[Carlo Algatrensig]

Both beat Youmzain by a similair distance in the last 2 runnings of the arc so taking a straight line through that form you could quite feasibly say that they are equals but of course zarkava would also have received a fillies allowance in the weights.

[wallinga]

sea the stars is better, Zarkava was an excellent filly but STS is a machine!

[Karie]

IMO Zarkava is better.
I was a huge Zarkava and See The Stars fan, but I think she could have beat him.. just my opinion

[AscotStud]

Zarkava, there will be another overhyped SOS next year

[parlo]

STS set up a record: winning the Guineas in April, the Derby in June and then the Arc in Oct easily from a difficult position during the race - no other horse did this before. And the class of competitors was always good - probably better than that in Zarkava's year.

So for me its STS to beat Zarkava.

[Sheikh]

No Competition, Sts by miles. He only ever just did enough at all distances to win.

[wangkw]

Few may have noticed that the 7 for 7 Zarkava won every race by 2 lengths or above...but unfortunately Arc is the only
"men race" she ran..in quite a similar position as Zenyatta..both also have a big one each..but Zen's streak is more o/s
...certainly...longer and G1 studded.

STS should have run even better..if his connections didn't chicken out in the St Leger. He didn't lose the triple crown,
those fellows behind him did.

STS is unmatched full stop

Didn't get to see Wilf's comments these days on the hot HOY topic.

[Sheikh]

The St Leger is a glorified Grp 3 that's why they didn't go for it.

[Carlo Algatrensig]

Few may have noticed that the 7 for 7 Zarkava won every race by 2 lengths or above...but unfortunately Arc is the only
"men race" she ran..in quite a similar position as Zenyatta..both also have a big one each..but Zen's streak is more o/s
...certainly...longer and G1 studded.

STS should have run even better..if his connections didn't chicken out in the St Leger. He didn't lose the triple crown,
those fellows behind him did.

STS is unmatched full stop

Didn't get to see Wilf's comments these days on the hot HOY topic.

I don't get this obsession you seem to have with the St Leger.

The Autumn races that would enhance his reputation (and therefore stud value) were the Irish Champion Stakes and The Arc. If He'd run in the St Leger there was really no way that he could have taken in either of the other races. I certainly prefered seeing him run in the Irish champ and The Arc rather than him plodding round in the St Leger for 1m 5f and then outsprinting the opposition over the last furlong and a half which is more than likely what would have happened

[wangkw]

Since inception of Prix De LÁrc De Triomphe in 1920, the following horses have finished top 3
in both the UK St Leger and The Arc :

ALLEGED 1977 2 (St Leger) European HOY 1977
ALLEGED 1977 1 (Arc)

BEAU PRINCE2 1955 3
BEAU PRINCE2 1955 2

CROW 1976 1
CROW 1976 2

NIJINSKY2 1970 1 European HOY, Triple Crown
NIJINSKY2 1970 2

RIBOCCO 1967 1
RIBOCCO 1967 3

SNURGE 1990 1
SNURGE 1990 3

SUN PRINCESS2 1983 1
SUN PRINCESS2 1983 2

USER FRIENDLY 1992 1 Cartier HOY 1992
USER FRIENDLY 1992 2

Note : I speculate that these 2 races were also held around 3 weeks apart in the earlier years.

On record no horses have ever won both events as a 3 year old.

[Patuxet]

AscotStud wrote: "... there will be another overhyped SOS next year".

At first I assumed "SOS" was AscotStud's typo for STS (Sea The Stars), but on what grounds could one posibly consider STS over-hyped? The knowledgeable international horsemen I read and know regard Sea The Stars as one of the more estimable horses raced in Europe in the past several decades, ranked only a cut below that template of European racing, the great Sea-Bird.

[wilf]

Of course I loved Sea The Stars ,what a fantastic year he had and to go through the season undefeated was a great testimony to the horse and the trainer and rider. I am not sure though about it being a stellar crop of runners this year. To be honest I have not paid much attention to the ones toiling in his wake . However it certainly was not of the caliber of Mill Reef's year for example. It irked me a bit to listen to the gushing comments by Clare Balding of how he is the best ever because her father thought he was a better horse than Mill Reef;Paul Mellon's pocket hercules from Virginia. Clare's dad trained the great horse in the early 70's. My immediate reaction was how quickly we forgot the truly remarkable Zarkava ,the 3yr old filly winner of last years Arc who retired undefeated and in my estimation had just as much acceleration as Sea The Stars. Comparisons are odious and serve no purpose, I just like to enjoy the great moments in racing that I have witnessed and watching the past two Arcs was a real treat indeed!

[Patuxet]

Mill Reef is somewhat down-rated for being well-beaten in the Two Thousand Guineas by Brigadier Gerard. Sea The Stars won the Two Thousand Guineas, but I haven't heard anyone suggest that he's better than Brigadier Gerard.

[AscotStud]

Sorry meant STS, he would have been screaming SOS if Zarkava came back to run in the Arc this year. Every year we hear the hype of a COLT being the best ever, they are selling stud fees, I guarantee next year there will be another 3yo colt who dominates that will be hyped as the best ever and will be whisked away to stud after he has accomplished enough to make it too risky for him to face a serious chanllenge only to see him fold in half.
Like Wilf said this years crop of sophs wasn't stellar by any means and the 1 big horse he beat, was off form this year and barely beat Presious Passion...wah wah wah wahhhhh!

Not saying he's not nice, but the filly is better and next year the crazy Euros will have another Johnny Comelately they say is the best ever.