Princess and dragon hero is envisioned as slaying dragons even though, for instance, the Brothers Grimm had only a few tales of dragon and giant slayers among hundreds of tales. One of the earliest example of the motif comes from the Ancient Greek tale of Perseus, who rescued the princess Andromeda from Cetus, a sea monster often described as resembling a serpent or dragon. This was taken up into other Greek myths, such as Heracles, who rescued the princess Hesione of Troy from a similar sea monster. Most ancient versions depicted the dragon as the expression of a god's wrath: in Andromeda's case,
Sea Hero win his first race until September 7 in what was his fourth start, racing over 1 mile on the turf. He next won an allowance race on the turf then switched to dirt to win the Grade I Champagne Stakes. He finished the year with a seventh-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile. At the start of his three-year-old campaign, Sea Hero was winless in his first three starts. His best result was a fourth-place finish in the Blue Grass Stakes to Prairie Bayou, who then became the lukewarm favorite for the Kentucky Derby. Sea Hero entered the Derby as