Today we are looking back on last seasons renewal of the Group One Dewhurst Stakes with the superstar St Mark's Basilica landing the first big race of his career.
The five time Group One winning colt has been arguably the horse of the season this year and after his success at Irish Champions weekend, he has all but nailed down the Cartier Horse Of The Year title.
At the end of his juvenile career he truly showed just how good he can be when taking the Group One Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket, having finished a close third in the Vincent O'Brien National Stakes before.
His win in this event came as a shock at the time with stablemate Wembley and the Joseph O'Brien trained Thunder Moon higher up in the pecking order.
This season he picked up from where he left off by taking the Group One French 2000 Guineas on seasonal debut and then at the start of June on his first try at an extended trip he took to it superbly to land the French Derby.
Staying at 1m2f he took on superstars Addeybb and Mishriff in the Coral Eclipse and blew them away, taking the Group One by close to four lengths.
Having missed the Juddmonte International due to a slight set back which his front shoe flew off and hit his hind leg leading to infection, he returned in the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown and in a humdinger of a race just edged out Tarnawa and Poetic Flare.
He has landed five Group One races during his career, being the best thing to come out of Ballydoyle this season.
The colt has now been retired to stud, with him set to be the next best horse for the operation when coming to breeding off the back of the death of Galileo.
🙏 St Mark's Basilica delivers
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) October 10, 2020
🏇 Five runs
🥇 Two wins
🏆 G1 Dewhurst Stakes
✅ 1.3million guineas purchase
St Mark's Basilica leads home a @Ballydoyle 1-2 in the @DarleyStallions Dewhurst Stakes under @FrankieDettori at @NewmarketRace
Results ➡ https://t.co/sBcsavHpYf pic.twitter.com/LdAnqM0exx