John Oxx: 'Sea The Stars was the perfect horse - the best Irish horse ever'

Since 2004, a majestic, six-foot bronze sculpture of Ridgewood Pearl has graced the old entrance bailiwick of the Curragh racecourse, her noble and alert poise captured elegantly in mid-flight.

A regal edifice, her spectre used to wield a suitably grand welcome to patrons as they alighted. Now that the turnstiles have been moved to the western aspect of the new layout, it no longer commands the same prominence, but Sean and Anne Coughlan’s homebred is still one of only three horses immortalised in bronze at the headquarters of Irish racing along with Nijinsky and Vintage Crop.

Sean and Anne Coughlan, left, pictured with sculptor Emma McDermott, and Johnny Carey, underneath the Ridgewood Pearl statue at the CurraghCredit: Caroline Norris (racingpost.com/photos)

All of 25 years after that epic Breeders’ Cup Mile triumph at Belmont Park under Johnny Murtagh brought the curtain down on a spectacular three-year-old campaign, with an official mark of 126 she remains the highest-rated filly to emerge from this little island in modern times. During that seminal 1995 season, she became the first filly to win Group 1s in four different countries.