Epsom Derby winner Sea The Stars underlined his huge reputation with a fifth successive Group One victory in the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown Saturday. Ridden by Mick Kinane, Sea The Stars took up the running with 200 meters to go and swiftly overhauled the powerful Aidan O'Brien duo, Fame and Glory (9-4) and Mastercraftsman (6-1). The winning distances were two-and-a-half lengths and the same. It was a performance of supreme quality from Sea The Stars, one of the highest-class horses to emerge from Ireland in this or any other generation. “He's one of those landmark horses that come along every 25-30 years that we always remember and he's the nearest living thing to a machine,” said trainer John Oxx. “If any of us is still around at the end of the century, I doubt there will be too many other horses who have achieved what he has done.” Fame and Glory had won the Irish Derby and Mastercraftsman the Irish 2,000 Guineas but Sea The Stars brushed the pair aside. The winner's participation had been in doubt earlier in the week due to a rain-softened surface but Oxx walked the course Friday and gave the go-ahead Saturday. Fallon finally wins Kieren Fallon rode the first winner of his comeback Saturday when successful on Our Kes at Wolverhampton's evening meeting. The six-time champion had drawn a blank from seven rides on his first day back Friday and five at Haydock Park Saturday afternoon. But he finally got off the mark, on the 13th attempt, steering Our Kes to a three-quarters of a length success in a modest handicap at Wolverhampton's all-weather track. The 44-year-old Irishman has returned to race riding after an 18-month drugs ban and an Old Bailey race-fixing trial where he was acquitted. He flies out for a big race at Baden-Baden in Germany Sunday to partner English raider Youmzain, twice runner-up in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. The best Fallon could manage Friday was a second place from four rides. He then hurried off to Kempton Park for three mounts at an evening meeting but again the most he could do was a second place. The Irishman, who freely admitted to pre-race nerves on his return, was greeted by a phalanx of paparazzi and a large press contingent at Lingfield for the latest chapter in an extraordinary career. Racegoers applauded the flawed genius and shouted “Welcome back” at the all-weather track where a crowd of 1,300 had turned out in the autumn sunshine. The nearest Fallon came to rewarding his fans at Lingfield was in the first race on joint favorite Rare Malt, runner-up to outsider Mr. Mahoganeigh, the mount of leading woman jockey Hayley Turner. This was followed by a fourth, a fifth and an eighth. At Kempton, he registered a second, third and fourth.
