Sea The Stars quits while the going’s good

Sea The Stars, the Irish colt who made history this year by winning the Derby, the 2,000 Guineas and the Prix de L'Arc de Triomphe, is to be retired by his owner, Christopher Tsui, a 27-year-old nightclub owner from Hong Kong, and is expected to earn a fortune at stud. Retirement will be immediate. The horse's trainer, John Oxx, will not enter the three-year-old into the Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita, California on November 7.

"He's had a long season and has been in regular fast work from March 3, with his final workout on October 2," Oxx told the BBC. "He's been in intensive training for seven months with only a three-week break after the Eclipse Stakes at the beginning of July. We feel it is unfair to keep him going any further given his unprecedented record of achievement in the last six months."

The horse should be able to command massive fees at stud given his remarkable performances on the track. In his two-year racing career, he lost only once, on his debut at the Curragh in Ireland, and has earned more than £4.5m in winnings.

This year he won the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket after being sent off second favourite at 8-1. By following this with the Derby, he became the first horse since Nashwan in 1989 to capture both races. The crowning glory of his season was when Mick Kinnane rode him home at Longchamps earlier this month in the Prix, Europe's most prestigious flat race.

Flamboyant racing broadcaster John McCririck understood the reasoning behind the decision to retire the colt. "Your head says yes," the BBC reports him saying. "He definitely should be retired. But, my goodness, if he had stayed in training there could have been world tours. Horse racing would have had its very own Usain Bolt." ·