Sea of Class
Sea of Class (23 May 2015 – 22 July 2019) was an Irish-bred British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse. She was unraced as a juvenile and beaten on her three-year-old debut, but then made rapid progress, winning the Fillies' Trial Stakes in May and the Abingdon Stakes in June. When stepped up to Group 1 class she defeated top-class fields to take the Irish Oaks in July and the Yorkshire Oaks in August before being narrowly beaten in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. Initially it was believed that Sea of Class died from colic, the supposed colic subsequently proved to be lymphoma (a cancerous tumour), and an initial growth was removed. A further cancerous growth was discovered 19 days after the original operation; the discovery of the latter resulted in Sea of Class being euthanized on July 22, 2019. Sea of Class is widely regarded to be one of the best middle distance horses of her generation. Background Sea of Class was a light-coloured chestnut filly with no white markings bred in Ireland by the Italian-based breeding company Razza del Velino SRL. She was a very late foal, being born on 23 May. As a yearling she was offered for sale at