Sea Bird II
| Sea-Bird | |
|---|---|
| Sire | Dan Cupid |
| Grandsire | Native Dancer |
| Dam | Sicalade |
| Damsire | Sicambre |
| Sex | Stallion |
| Foaled | 1962 |
| Country | France |
| Colour | Chestnut |
| Breeder | Jean Ternynck |
| Owner | Jean Ternynck, Racing colours: Dark green, black cap. |
| Trainer | Etienne Pollet |
| Record | 8: 7-1-0 |
| Earnings | $646,906 |
| Major wins | |
|
Critérium de Maisons-Laffitte (1964) Prix Greffulhe (1965) Prix Lupin (1965) Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud (1965) Epsom Derby (1965) Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (1965) |
|
| Honours | |
| British Horse of the Year (1965) French Horse Racing Hall of Fame Timeform rating: 145 |
|
Sea-Bird (1962–1973) was a French Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a career which lasted from 1964 until October 1965 he ran eight times and won seven races. Sea Bird is most famous for his victories in two of Europe's most prestigious races: the Epsom Derby and the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. His Timeform rating of 145 remains the second highest flat figure behind Frankel's rating of 147 awarded by that publication.
Sea-Bird was a chestnut horse with a narrow white blaze and white socks on his hind legs bred at the stables of his owner, the Lille textile manufacturer Jean Ternynck. Sea-Bird was sired by the French Derby runner-up Dan Cupid, and trained, like his sire, in France by Etienne Pollet at Chantilly. None of his five immediate dams ever won a flat race, although his great-grandam Couleur did produce Camaree, who won the 1000 Guineas in 1950, and Sea Bird was more distantly related to the Belmont Stakes winner High Echelon.
In France, the horse was known as Sea-Bird, a practice followed by many modern writers. When racing abroad and standing at stud he was usually referred to as "Sea Bird II". He was referred to as "Sea-Bird II" by Timeform.
Sea-Bird started in three races as a two-year-old, winning his first two, the Prix de Blaison at Chantilly by a short head (started slowly) and the Critérium de Maisons-Laffitte by two lengths from Blabla (who won the Prix de Diane the following year). He met with the only defeat of his career in the Grand Critérium when second to his stablemate Grey Dawn, who was the favourite after winning the Prix Morny and the Prix de la Salamandre. Sea-Bird started slowly, as he had done in his two wins, but made up a great deal of ground in the straight to finish second, two lengths behind Grey Dawn. Maurice Larraun, Sea-Bird's jockey, appeared to have given the horse too much to do and never rode Sea-Bird again. At the end of the season, Sea-Bird was rated three pounds inferior to Grey Dawn by the official French handicapper.
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