Sea the Stars (center) winning the 2009 English Derby (AP Photo)

What better way to extend a dazzling summer of sport than to anticipate another European smash and grab in California? The Breeders’ Cup Classic, in particular, could shape up as a race of global significance, as opposed to a merely parochial championship.

How perception of this both ancient and modern event has changed on these shores. Whilst a tilt at the biggest race was once considered windmill-leaning, it is now being written up as “de rigeur” for any middle distance horse worth his or her salt. It is most unusual that an international raider should be garlanded as the most mentionable participant of the event, but I fancy that will be the case if Sea The Stars makes the journey that we all crave.

In my lifetime, albeit considerably shorter than many of my esteemed media colleagues, this is the best horse that I have had the good fortune to encounter. His five straight Group Ones have not only showcased his class and versatility, but also his heart and resolution.

In the Spring of this year, I interviewed Aidan O’Brien at Ballydoyle. His commentary on the athletic rigors of top-class competition was most revealing: he talked about horses entering a “red-zone,” whereby their cardiovascular systems are tested to the full as they run towards the pain barrier.

If you note the times of Sea The Stars’s last three victories — two track records and an above-standard time on soft ground — you have all the evidence you need that this special colt has dragged his wearying rivals (most trained, ironically, by O’Brien) through that red-zone, while emerging unscathed himself.

It is a universally accepted truth that a horse’s form is cyclical, that it builds to a peak figure before a slight recoil and so forth. In the case of Sea The Stars, the times clocked show peak after peak after peak after peak.

Presently, John Oxx is asking us not to ask him about Breeders’ Cup. So we do, repeatedly, and the response is sensibly non-committal. Let us hope that this beast struts his stuff majestically in the Arc, and then gets on the plane.

The interesting upshot of Sea The Stars’s dominance might be the effect that his crushing defeats has had on some of O’Brien’s likely cup contenders. Will these be suitably fresh horses come the end of the first week in November? Or will they be emboldened by the experience of proper competition?

These are imponderables, as are the targets for Rip Van Winkle (currently working his way back from injury), Mastercraftsman, and Fame and Glory. If I were to hazard a guess, I would suggest the first pair would run in the Classic, with Fame and Glory a short priced favourite for the Turf. The Ballydoyle team, badly in need of a first Cup win since 2003, will leave us wondering for the time being.

I think they know that to take on Goldikova in the Mile is likely a futile dice-roll. For all that Freddie Head’s filly has looked ever more willful in the preliminaries, she has appeared ever more stellar on the way back to the winner’s enclosure. Her Jacques Le Marois romp had a proper franking last weekend, as runner-up Aqlaam took the Group 1 Prix du Moulin. Head told us last year that Goldikova was better than Miesque. How we laughed. We’re not laughing now.

That’s the likely European skeleton. I’m richly looking forward to putting the flesh on the bones as the Breeders’ Cup draws near.