He's now a top-priced 6-4 for Europe's autumn showpiece, but Ladbrokes only offer even money.
Yesterday Sea The Star's trainer John Oxx gave his assessment of the opposition - a sure sign his mind is set on Paris.
“All those nice horses in the Arc trials will be harder nuts in three weeks’ time. But nothing from Sunday looked outstanding or more of a threat than a week ago.”
Oxx added: “It’s nonsense to say good horses run on all kinds of ground. Sea The Stars will not run up to his best if he’s getting his toe into proper soft ground. If Stacelita gets that she will not have Sea The Stars against her.”
Meanwhile, the controversy over the disqualification of British filly Dar Re Mi to hand Sunday’s Prix Vermeille to Stacelita is rumbling on.
Infuriatingly, if the horse she barely interfered with, fifth-placed Soberania, had got up to be fourth, or even third, Dar Re Mi’s owners, the Lloyd-Webbers, would have kept the £166,447 first prize.
Instead the money went to Stacelita’s connections. Dar Re Mi was disqualified because the Longchamp stewardsd eemed Soberania’s owners lost £8301 – the difference between finishing fourth and fifth – due to Dar Re Mi’s manoeuvres.
The Lloyd-Webbers, who are not short of a million or two, are expected to appeal to uphold their filly’s reputation.
Some who attended the Curragh in June thought Dar Re Mi should have been disqualified in favour of Beach Bunny in the Pretty Polly Stakes.
What goes round comes round.
According to the French racing website Frogsracing, “very seldom do the France-Galop authorities change a decision made by their chums.
“They are all cut from the same cloth.”