Best horse you won't see at the Breeders' Cup?

Sea the Stars was the smashing victor of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe Sunday at Longchamp.

But his connections, including owner Christopher Tsui and trainer John Oxx, are likely less than convinced that he should race in the Breeders' Cup Classic next month at the Oak Tree at Santa Anita meeting in California. Or, perhaps, ever again.

And can you blame them?

The 3-year-old colt by Cape Cross and whose dam, Urban Sea (Miswaki-Allegretta, by Lombard) also won the Arc, has done everything asked of him.

His only loss was as a first-timer -- fourth in an 18-horse field at The Curragh -- in a talented group that included winner Driving Snow (stakes winner, G3-placed), Black Bear Island (G2 winner, full brother to High Chaparral) and Freemantle (G2-placed), all finishing less than a length ahead of him.

The spectacular half-brother to champion Galileo has won eight in a row since, six straight Group 1 races, including the English Derby-Guineas double (a first since Nashwan in 1989) and beating the best older horses Europe has to offer.

"Does he need to achieve anything more? I don't know. It's questionable," said his jockey, Mick Kinane, upon winning the Arc.

No, it isn't questionable. There's nothing more to ask of this horse. At least, certainly not at age 3. And certainly not shipping to California to try and win a Breeders' Cup race on a synthetic surface.

"He's a phenomenal horse," said Kinane. "You'd hate to do anything wrong by him."

I'm not saying that running at Santa Anita would be "wrong." Only needless, particularly in the Classic. I don't see how it raises his stud value one iota to be the best horse in the world on both turf and synthetic. ... Dirt might be a different story, but the Breeders' Cup has seen fit not to give us dirt, two years in a row now.

Europeans, at least, agree.

"They can go to America if they like, but I just hope he never runs again," said four-time Arc-winning rider Pat Eddery. "He's got nothing left to prove."

"I don't know why they would want to go to America," said ex-jockey Geoff Lewis, who won the 1971 Arc aboard Mill Reef. "... He's done enough already."

I disagree with Eddery in that I would like to see this horse run at age 4. From a breeding perspective, I would prefer knowing that a horse had more than nine lifetime races in him before standing him at stud. I realize that doesn't seem to bother a lot of other people, including most of the horse people with considerably more money than I.

So if Sea the Stars doesn't run at Santa Anita -- and I think that he won't -- will he be the best horse not competing in the Breeders' Cup this year? Or does that title go to Rachel Alexandra, who is almost certain to be the Eclipse Horse of the Year without setting foot on a track during Breeders' Cup weekend?

I'm asking that question in the polling space at left, and also giving you a choice of "Some Other Horse." If you vote and choose neither Sea the Stars nor Rachel, do me the favor of posting the non-BC-bound horse you believe is best instead in the comments section for this post.

So I can scoff at you.

No, seriously. If you think it's some other horse, I'd like to know which horse.

And what in the world you might be thinking. Or have been drinking.

Daughters of Biancone, Wolfendale score first wins: Young trainers had good, and bad, examples to follow

Like father, like daughter. Or in one case, let's hope not.

Sunday was the day for first-time winners among the second-generation trainers' ranks. Both Marie Biancone, daughter of conditioner Patrick Biancone, and Maggie Wolfendale, daughter of trainer Howard Wolfendale, collected their own first victories as trainers on June 14, 2009.

In another interesting parallel, both women's horses won the seventh race on the card at their respective tracks.

Ms. Biancone scored at Arlington Park in only her third race after hanging out her own shingle. The French-born Biancone collected a long-shot win in Arlington Race 7 with Grand Symphony, a 4-year-old Stravinsky filly who won drawing off by four in a six-furlong maiden-claimer on Polytrack.

Ms. Wolfendale, still just a senior at Towson University in Maryland (majoring in broadcast journalism) took the the seventh at Colonial Downs with Gulch Fever, a gelding formerly trained by her father. Unlike the Biancone winner, Gulch Fever was sent off as the 2.70-to-1 favorite, and he won just as handily, clear by 4 1/4 in the one-mile turf claimer.

Maggie Wolfendale's feat is particularly impressive to me. While still a year away from her college degree (an accomplishment in itself) she has seven horses in training at Colonial Downs. And it's pretty apparent she's learned a thing or two from her father, who won his first race as a trainer at Laurel Park in 1977 and his 1,000th at the same track some 28 years later, in 2005. Howard Wolfendale was named the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association's top trainer for 1989.

Maggie's horse skills have been well-honed through the years. She has ridden dressage and even ponied horses in the Preakness post-parade. Now she sometimes combines her broadcasting and journalism skills with her knowledge of the horses to write an occasional column at Preakness.com and to offer her picks via the Colonial Downs JumboTron between races.

And as if a winner's circle photo of your very own horse wasn't already a beautiful thing, it can only get better with the 2008 Miss Preakness as your trainer (pictured).

Marie Biancone, meanwhile, emigrated to the U.S. from France in 2004 and has served as an assistant to her father since then. And that isn't necessarily all positive. During her time as an assistant to Patrick Biancone, Marie's father was suspended for a year by Kentucky stewards in 2007 after three vials of alpha-cobra toxin -- that's snake venom, apparently used to deaden sore joints on horses that should be resting, not running -- were found in his barn at Keeneland.

The elder Biancone claims the contraband wasn't his. Indeed, it was contained in a red bag labeled with veterinarian Rodney Stewart’s name and phone number (Stewart got a five-year ban). But the stuff was in the Biancone barn's refrigerator, which makes it also his responsibility, and Biancone's prior record makes it difficult to believe he follows nothing but the straight-and-narrow these days.

The now-57-year-old Biancone was heralded for winning back-to-back runnings of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in 1983 and 1984 (with All Along and Sagace), but after leaving his native France to train in Hong Kong, Biancone was suspended from that Asian jurisdiction when two of his horses tested positive for banned substances. Biancone had been fined in 1997 when more than 20 of the horses in his care tested positive for banned substances. The 10-month ban for the second series of Hong Kong violations prompted Biancone to relocate to the States.

During 2007 alone -- the year that eventually ended with Biancone's 12-month suspension (technically shortened later to six, albeit with the agreement from Biancone that he wouldn't reapply for a Kentucky license for another six months) -- Biancone had his hand slapped for two other violations. About a month before the cobra venom was found in his barn refrigerator, Biancone completed a 15-day suspension (ending Sept. 19, 2007) for a medication violation stemming from a May 3 race at Churchill Downs. Only days earlier, on Sept. 5, 2007, he was fined $10,000 by California stewards and received a stay of a 15-day suspension for a violation that occurred Jan. 7 at Santa Anita.

That's a rap sheet covering a decade-long span and multiple jurisdictions all around the world. It's a black mark that is embarrassing particularly to American racing, where Biancone proves a trainer can get caught and accused and caught again and keep getting re-licensed eventually. And it's a record that unfortunately will follow Biancone's name, which is also his daughter's, in the minds of the horse racing public unless and until she proves to be a winner without all the incidents and accusations of doping.

I really hope that's exactly what Marie Biancone does -- win plenty of races, without a hint of impropriety. That isn't just what the Biancone name needs for some redemption, it's what all of racing needs, from every trainer.

Meanwhile, sincere congratulations to both women on their first victories as conditioners. May your racing lives be filled with many more happy moments like those.