Sea Of Class lives up to name

As birthday presents go it probably does not get much better; a Darley Yorkshire Oaks for a Yorkshire man.

But it went a lot deeper than that for William Haggas after Sea Of Class produced a spine-tingling turn of foot to sweep from last to first under hands and heels to win yesterday’s Group One in such commanding fashion that he went home last night with the Prix de l’arc de Triomphe favourite.

Unraced at two, a maiden until May, Haggas now has what increasingly looks like the horse of his lifetime on his hands and, although nobody will ever know what the outcome might have been, his decision to be patient and not sacrifice her on the altar of the Epsom Oaks now looks like a masterstroke.

When she won the Irish Oaks under such an audaciously-patient ride from James Doyle, who got up to win by a neck in the last strides, it was a job to know how good she was. Yesterday, under strict instructions not to give Haggas a heart attack, Doyle made his move two furlongs out.

He swept past the whole field in the space of furlong and although he got there much sooner than needed, she never looked like pulling herself up and comfortably beat Coronet, a solid yardstick, by 2¼ lengths.

“You always hope they’ll do something like that,” said Haggas. “She really was impressive today. She really picked up. Mrs Tsui will have to pay the supplementary fee to enter her in the Arc, but I’d imagine she’ll be keen to do that. She tells me her son [Christopher] has only been to the Arc twice; when Urban Sea and Sea The Stars [both owned by the Tsui family] won.

“I guess patience is a virtue. I thought she looked light at The Curragh. She looked better today.”