Saumarez was an Thoroughbred

Thoroughbred

The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...

 racehorse

Horse racing

Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...

 who won France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

's most prestigious race, the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe

Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe

The Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe is a Group 1 flat horse race in France which is open to thoroughbreds aged three years or older. It is run at Longchamp over a distance of 2,400 metres , and it is scheduled to take place each year, usually on the first Sunday in October.Popularly referred to as the...

 for his famous owners, National Hockey League

National Hockey League

The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...

 superstar Wayne Gretzky

Wayne Gretzky

Wayne Douglas Gretzky, CC is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. Nicknamed "The Great One", he is generally regarded as the best player in the history of the National Hockey League , and has been called "the greatest hockey player ever" by many sportswriters,...

 and owner of his Los Angeles Kings

Los Angeles Kings

The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles, California. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League...

 ice hockey

Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 team, Bruce McNall

Bruce McNall

Bruce Patrick McNall is a former Thoroughbred racehorse owner, and a sports executive who once owned the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League and the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League .McNall claimed to have made his initial fortune as a coin collector, though...

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Trained by Henry Cecil

Henry Cecil

Sir Henry Richard Amherst Cecil is a successful English horse racing trainer who has had many winners in the Epsom Derby, 1,000 Guineas and 2,000 Guineas, Epsom Oaks and the St. Leger Stakes....

, Saumarez was winless at age two in 1989 then got his first win in 1990 under American-born U.S. Racing Hall of Fame

National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame

The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame was founded in 1950 in Saratoga Springs, New York, to honor the achievements of American thoroughbred race horses, jockeys, and trainers...

 jockey Steve Cauthen

Steve Cauthen

Steve Cauthen is a retired American jockey.Cauthen, the son of a trainer and a farrier, grew up in Walton, Kentucky around horses, which made race-riding a logical career choice. He rode his first race on May 12, 1976 at Churchill Downs; he finished last, riding King of Swat...

 in the Aldborough Maiden Stakes. Following a win in the Harvester Graduation Stakes, he finished second to winner Blue Stag in the Dee Stakes

Dee Stakes

The Dee Stakes is a Group 3 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and geldings. It is run at Chester over a distance of 1 mile, 2 furlongs and 75 yards , and it is scheduled to take place each year in May....

 at Chester Racecourse

Chester Racecourse

Chester Racecourse, known as the Roodee, is according to official records the oldest racecourse still in use in England. Horse racing at Chester dates back to the early sixteenth century. It is also thought to be the smallest racecourse of significance in England at 1 mile and 1 furlong ...

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In June he was sent to France where Nicolas Clément took over as trainer. Steve Cauthen rode Saumarez to victory in the Grand Prix de Paris

Grand Prix de Paris

The Grand Prix de Paris is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Longchamp over a distance of 2,400 metres , and it is scheduled to take place each year in July.-History:...

 and then under French jockey Gérald Mossé

Gérald Mossé

Gérald Mossé is a jockey in thoroughbred horse racing. He began riding professionally in April 1983 and his success during his apprenticeship under Patrick-Louis Biancone led to an offer to ride for renowned trainer François Boutin and his stable of horses belonging to Jean-Luc Lagardère...

, he won the Prix du Prince d'Orange

Prix du Prince d'Orange

The Prix du Prince d'Orange is a Group 3 flat horse race in France which is open to three-year-old thoroughbreds. It is run at Longchamp over a distance of 2,000 metres , and it is scheduled to take place each year in September.-History:...

 in September and October's prestigious, Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe

Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe

The Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe is a Group 1 flat horse race in France which is open to thoroughbreds aged three years or older. It is run at Longchamp over a distance of 2,400 metres , and it is scheduled to take place each year, usually on the first Sunday in October.Popularly referred to as the...

. For majority owner Bruce McNall, it was his second Arc win, having won it in 1987 with Trempolino

Trempolino

Trempolino was an French Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the prestigious Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in 1987. He was bred by Marystead Farm, the American arm of French horseman Paul de Moussac, owner of the Haras du Mezeray stud farm at Ticheville in the Lower Normandy Region of France...

. Nicolas Clément became the youngest trainer

Horse trainer

In horse racing, a trainer prepares a horse for races, with responsibility for exercising it, getting it race-ready and determining which races it should enter...

 to win this race. Saumarez was then sent to the United States for the Breeders' Cup Turf

Breeders' Cup Turf

The Breeders' Cup Turf is a Weight for Age Thoroughbred horse race on turf for three-year-olds and up. It is held annually at a different racetrack in the United States or Canada as part of the Breeders' Cup World Championships. The race's current title sponsor is Emirates Airlines.The forerunner...

 at Belmont Park

Belmont Park

Belmont Park is a major thoroughbred horse-racing facility located in Elmont in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, New York, on Long Island adjoining New York City. It first opened on May 4, 1905...

 in Elmont, New York

Elmont, New York

Elmont is an unincorporated census-designated place located in the northwest corner of the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, New York, along its border with the borough of Queens in New York City...

 where he finished fifth to In the Wings

In the Wings (horse)

In the Wings was a Thoroughbred racehorse who raced from a base in France. Bred and raced by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and trained in France by André Fabre, on June 17, 1988 at Chantilly Racecourse, In the Wings made a winning debut in the 1988 Prix de Vineuil under jockey Cash Asmussen...

 whom he had beaten in the Arc.

Sold for $8 million to a syndicate led by C A B St. George, Saumaurez was retired to stud

Stud (animal)

A stud animal is a registered animal retained for breeding. The terms for the male of a given animal species usually imply that the animal is entire—that is, not castrated—and therefore capable of siring offspring...

. He currently stands at Odessa Stud in Ceres, Western Cape

Ceres, Western Cape

Ceres is a town with 46,251 inhabitants in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. It is the administrative centre and largest town of the Witzenberg Local Municipality. Ceres serves as a regional centre for the surrounding towns of Wolseley, Tulbagh, Op-die-Berg and Prince Alfred Hamlet...

 in South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

. He has sired twelve stakes winners and notably is the damsire of 2007 Epsom Derby

Epsom Derby

The Derby Stakes, popularly known as The Derby, internationally as the Epsom Derby, and under its present sponsor as the Investec Derby, is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies...

 winner, Authorized

Authorized (horse)

Authorized is an Irish-bred and British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse, winner of the 2007 Epsom Derby.-Background:...

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