Sir Michael Stoute and Sea the Stars | Hall of Fame

News | 30^th April 2023

Sir Michael Stoute and Sea The Stars will become the first inductions of 2023 into the QIPCO British Champions Series Hall of Fame.

Iconic trainer Sir Michael Stoute and fabled racehorse Sea The Stars have today been confirmed as the latest inductees into the QIPCO British Champions Series Hall of Fame. Their official induction ceremony will take place during the QIPCO Guineas Festival at Newmarket Racecourse next weekend.

Launched in 2021, the Hall of Fame sets out to immortalise the Modern Greats of the sport, both human and equine, from 1970 onwards. Stoute and Sea The Stars are the first to be inducted in 2023, both having been chosen by an independent panel of industry experts in recognition of their outstanding achievements within the sport, their decision understandably unanimous.

Both inductions will be officially recognised through a special presentation moment at Newmarket Racecourse on Sunday 7^th May during the QIPCO Guineas Festival. The presentations will take place ahead of the second British Classic of the year, the QIPCO 1000 Guineas, which is also the second leg of this year’s QIPCO British Champions Series.

Additionally, to further enhance the Hall of Fame, the National Horseracing Museum in Newmarket has established a new and updated exhibition within the Thompson Gallery. This will provide visitors with an opportunity to find out more about some of the most adored and important stars of British Flat racing.

The exhibition is open to all visitors to the museum and includes a range of artefacts relating to the Hall of Fame, such as Frankie Dettori’s riding boots and Lester Piggott’s Hall of Fame medal, together with interactive screens that will excite all ages.

Stoute joins an elite list

Stoute, 77, becomes the first active trainer to be inducted into the Hall of Fame – and just the third trainer overall, after the revered Vincent O’Brien and Sir Henry Cecil. Meanwhile Sea The Stars, owned by Christopher Tsui, trained by John Oxx and ridden by jockey Mick Kinane in all his races, is the eighth horse to join the Hall of Fame, 14 years after winning the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket.

On his induction, Stoute said: “I am very flattered and most grateful to have been inducted into the QIPCO British Champions Series Hall of Fame. Of course, it has only been made possible by good horses, talented and dedicated staff and loyal owners.”

The doyen of the training ranks, Stoute has had a record 82 winners at Royal Ascot, including Estimate’s unforgettable Gold Cup triumph for Queen Elizabeth II in 2013, and nobody has trained more winners of prestigious prizes such as the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (six), International Stakes (six), Eclipse (six), Lockinge (eight), Falmouth Stakes (six) and Yorkshire Oaks (nine).

His latest big race win saw Bay Bridge emerge victorious in the QIPCO Champion Stakes on QIPCO British Champions Day at Ascot in October last year, beating the likes of 2021 Derby winner Adayar and the William Haggas-trained duo My Prospero and Baaeed, with the latter having previously swept all before him in ten starts until that day.

Sea The Stars honoured

Sea the Stars dominated the European Flat racing scene during his three-year-old career in 2009, capturing the public’s hearts with one supreme exhibition of equine perfection after another.

That year, he contested six Group 1 races and won them all, over distances ranging between a mile and a mile and a half. An audacious campaign in three different countries began with victory in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket and ended, five months later, with glory in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

In between, he also won The Derby, Coral-Eclipse, Juddmonte International and Irish Champion Stakes. It was a breathtaking selection of races, almost the stuff of fantasy, and yet each success was gained with something to spare against the best around on various types of ground.