PRIX DE L'ARC DE TRIOMPHE:IN ITS 88-year history, the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe has been a coronation for some of the great champions in turf history. It has also seen other legendary names come up short. But with Sea The Stars set to start the shortest priced favourite for years in Europe's greatest race, tomorrow threatens to become a unique day at Longchamp.

Sea The Stars is already assured of having his name being forever synonymous with the 2009 racing year. An unbeaten Group One stretch of five races has seen John Oxx’s swaggeringly outstanding colt create an indelible impression of quality that makes him the outstanding racehorse in the world this season.

Already the arguments about where he stands in the overall pantheon of thoroughbred greats has begun and while no doubt rankings are arbitrary, no one can doubt the Irish-trained horse’s right to be in the mix. Timeform already describe him as an “all-time great.”

But tomorrow’s €4 million feature could place Sea The Stars in a singular position.

No horse has ever completed the treble of Newmarket 2,000 Guineas, Epsom Derby and Arc, which might not constitute a Triple Crown in the American sense but which represents a vastly greater challenge in terms of versatility and class that not even the very best of the past have managed.

Nijinsky failed in the 1970 Arc, Mill Reef couldn’t secure the 1971 Guineas, while Dancing Brave was undone by Epsom in 1986. Sea Bird and Ribot didn’t even get near a Guineas. The names don’t come any more luminous, and yet Sea The Stars is in a position to trump the lot of them.

Yesterday Oxx’s fears for a poor draw were unrealised with Sea The Stars getting box six and although a field of 18 runners is probably a little more than the Curragh trainer would regard as ideal, he knows better than anyone about the tactical speed which this horse possesses.

Oxx’s Arc record is impeccable, with his sole runner to date, Sinndar, victorious nine years ago, while Mick Kinane has won it twice – Carroll House (1989) and Montjeu (1999.) Coincidence punters will latch on to that pattern but far more substantial indictors point to Sea The Stars confirming his superiority over his rivals.

Certainly on form the likes of Fame And Glory, Conduit and Vision d’Etat have a mountain to climb. There also looks likely to be a sound racing surface which has been Oxx’s only source of concern all year and plenty of evidence in the last couple of weeks that a long season hasn’t taken the shine off Sea The Stars in the slightest.

Certainly if the Arc was run a month ago, the heavy odds-on favourite would be even shorter in the betting than he is. That he isn’t is due to a history that suggests the Longchamp spectacular can be one bridge too far at the end of a long season.

But Sea The Stars’ style of racing, plus all his obvious quality, suggests he can be the exception to the rule in this too. “To have a landmark horse like this, one people will remember, is as big a thing as you can get,” Oxx said yesterday. “The Arc is a race where horses are ultimately judged so we just have to get through it.”

He also nominated Fame And Glory as his main danger, which only emphasises the depth of quality among Irish three-year- olds this season. Any other year Fame And Glory would be acclaimed as a true champion in his own right but 2009 has not been just any other year.

With retirement beckoning at the end of the season, Sea The Stars has been no enduring love affair in the manner of the great stayer Yeats who makes his last start in tomorrow’s Prix du Cadran. Instead it has been more of an intoxicating trip of a lifetime. Where better than Paris to finish it off in style?

Longchamp Sunday

12.45 Benbaun

1.20 Rosanara

1.55 Lope de Vega

2.30 Midday

3.15 Sea The Stars

4.45 Kasbah Bliss