Cloth Of Stars, Timeform’s Champion older horse of 2017 who was a close-up third in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe earlier this month, has been retired and will stand with Darley’s French stallions at Haras du Logis in Normandy. The well-bred son of Sea The Stars, who was the first colt home in the last two Arcs, earned a Timeform rating when second to Enable in 2017 that would have won nine of the previous ten runnings of the race. A fee for the G1 Prix Ganay winner will be set shortly.
A 400,000gns yearling by the Derby winner out of an own-sister to Oaks winner Light Shift, Cloth Of Stars broke his maiden first time out at Deauville in August at two. He then won the G3 Prix des Chenes over a mile, and was second in the G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud.
A Derby preparation brought him wins in the 10f Prix la Force and G2 Prix Greffuhle, before running third in the G1 Grand Prix de Paris. In 2017, he swept through the big ten-furlong races for older horses in Paris in the spring, taking the G3 Prix Exbury, G2 Prix d’Harcourt and G1 Prix Ganay. Andre Fabre then put him away for an Arc preparation. In his first Arc, he weaved through runners on the outside, but Enable had already bounced into an unassailable two-length lead. He beat the rest of an outstanding field convincingly, led by his close relation Ulysses, whom he defeated both times they met. This year, he bounced back to form to be just a length behind Enable and Sea Of Class in the Arc, conceding them weight for age or sex, or both.
Cloth Of Stars, who is assessed as the best horse in the outstanding Niarchos family tracing to fellow Arc runner-up Northern Trick, put up a better Timeform in the Arc in defeat than his sire Sea The Stars did when winning the race. His rating of 132 makes him the fourth best horse ever from the Green Desert line, behind only Sea The Stars, Golden Horn and Kingman, and level with Muhaarar.
Sam Bullard, Darley’s Director of stallions, said, ’Cloth Of Stars has an awful lot going for him. He’s a Timeform Champion and a G1 performer every season from two to five, who was absolutely top class. He’s beautifully bred, and a quality individual. Cloth Of Stars is in exalted company and we’re delighted to be offering him to breeders.’
