RIP Montjeu

Shock death of Derby sire Montjeu
By Richard Griffiths 11:41AM 29 MAR 2012

THE bloodstock world has been dealt a devasting blow with the news that Montjeu, Coolmore Stud's  second most important stallion after Galileo, has died at the age of 16, although the Irish stud has yet to confirm the shock news.

The son of Sadler's Wells leaves an outstanding legacy having sired three Derby winnings in Motivator, Authorized, and, last year, Pour Moi.

Another of his sons, Camelot, would be a strong contender for this season's Epsom Classic based on his authoritative victory in last season's Racing Post Trophy.

Having overcome question marks about his ability to produce high-class fillies, Montjeu's daughter Wading is favourite for this year's Oaks.

What horrendous news. I await the full story with grim fascination. About as reliable a sire as you'll ever see.

I'd imagine Por Moi will now have a slightly better book than was originally scheduled.

im shocked, puts a lot of presure on his sons at stud and camelot this year, im such a fan, really shocked, i always thought that my 1st racehorse would be a son of Montjue, sad news

Coolmore have moved quickly and have purchased Papal Bull as a stand in.

Thats out of the blue..shows it can happen to any of them at any time.  Changes my mind over opting to swerve a mare by him, mighty premium on a nice filly yearling now.  If he was ever going to be a great sire of sires he's had plenty on the ground - maybe F&G, PM, SNA or Camelot will cut it.  Well done him.

Absolute Shocker, what a loss for the industry and Coolmore.  Best of luck to those who were booked in trying to find a suitable replacement.

I have felt for a long time that he is the only sire capable of producing a Triple Crown winner, with that natural exuberance for the mile and deep well of stamina for the Leger. Let's hope he has a handful left capable of at least keeping my dream alive. Remarkable how a stallion can stamp his progeny so much, his traits were always passed down as far as I could see and he showed that you can be quirky and pass down quirks without it being a compromise on talent. Wonderful racehorse and sire, as Kinane says he will leave a big hole..

Very, very sad news.

I always think that Coolmore aren't above a bit of genuine sentimentality and racing sportsmanship. I know, I know, it's not something you see from them every day of the week, but I would think that it is now more likely that Camelot will make The Guineas than it was yesterday.

I don't think they have much to lose as an eyecatching 4th will be okay, as long as they don't hammer him in the process.

A Montjeu Triple Crown winner would be some tribute to the old man.

Maybe Aidan will fancy it for his son and heir too, before the doughnuts get the better of him!

That statement told us sfa.

1) How long has he missed covering this season.

2) How many mares did he cover this season.

3) What was his fee this season.

4) Is that sciatica as a result of a blow from a mare who took a dislike to him.

5) Gallileo is no doubt full. What other sire will benefit most. Maybe Pour Moi and what is his fee.

These are the answers that most readers want not such a bland statement.

What about the financial implications? OK, so we know his fee was private and therefore at least 50K, but I'd reckon it would cost somewhere in the neighbourhood of 75K-100K to book a mare to him. Let's be conservative and say 75K for 2012. And excluding foal shares, how many mares would he get - 100 or so? That's a whopping €7,500,000 revenue stream gone. And given his age, you could reasonably expect him to command that fee and mare numbers for at least the next five years, possibly more. I'd estimate it as a potential €40,000,000 loss to the farm. Feel free to disagree/dispute the numbers, but whatever the true figures it's a flippin' significent loss.

Very sad news.

I think High Chapperal could benefit from a few of his would be mares.

Like all, I was gobsmacked to hear this.  You don't think that Coolmore will do the same as they did with HOLY ROMAN EMPEROR on CAMELOT, and get him off to stud to replace his sire?  From a commercial point of view, there's an argument for doing this, or will POUR MOI now step up to the plate?  Presumably, there will still be many mares from the MONTJEU book in need of covering after all?

I'm glad that Elite managed to get SISTINE covered and in foal to POUR MOI, as we may have been re-routed if the covering had not already been done.

Condolences to all concerned-very sad news.

85k get u a nice mare montjeu and if u offered me high chap or hurricane run I'd laugh (not ha ha). Coolmore hardly going to give a full medical briefing, especially not until insurance matters clear. I agree Camelot has to win grp1 10f max if the heir apparent.

I think that Huricane Run in a way should be the obvious benefactor. There will be room for him to take a good few mares and he appears to be a most faithful agent of his sires aptitudes. However he has made a commendable start at stud, but he does only seem to be Montjeu 'lite'.

Mind you, there aren't more than a small handful of stallions who aren't 'lite' compared to Montjeu so it can't be anything but a huge headache. I am not sure that Fastnet Rock is the most fertile of horses but I imagine they keep his book a little smaller so that may be a way of accommodating.

I suppose Pour Moi is a likely alternative. A bit of a blow if you are booked already and thought he might cover a reasonable ammount of mares by Fethard standards. Does anyone know how he is getting on and therefore how he might manage an increase?

Camelot has a gp 1 over 8f at 2 and if he's brilliant, 12f only won't be a problem. PM is popular enough and has no 2yo form so Camelot should be fine.

I am very sad to hear about this. I was fortunate to spend a working summer at Windsor Park Stud in New Zealand in 2003, where this guy shuttled with great success for five years. What a classy guy, and definately my favourite sire of all time.

yer ma

i'm not suggesting that HC will be a replacement for M, simply thatr he may benefit from mares looking for that type of stallion.

With respect if u have a mare good enough and were prepared to shell out nearly £100k, HC would not b on your list IMO. There also the big issue of foal shares, coolmore do not want good mares carrying moderate stallion foals any more than mare owner. I can see several palmed to StS, Gal, even subbed to Kentucky (pretty late for that mind u). Headache that's for sure. Potm I'd need more than a repeat of Authorised & motivator to get really excited about Camelot. Champion stakes & arc Id settle for ;)

Point taken yer ma. I think though that the fact that Camelot found his way to Coolmore that perhaps gives him the edge over M and A. I would guess he has a stronger more commercial look about him.

regardless, there will be one less high class middle distance stallion available over the next couple of years. surely this will help HC. he's not that bad a stallion, far from it.

regardless, there will be one less high class middle distance stallion available over the next couple of years. surely this will help HC. he's not that bad a stallion, far from it.

oops, dont know what happened there. I seemed to have posted half my response twice. I shall resume:

he has sired a number of good G1 winners including a juvenile turf. I always felt he didn't get nearly as good mares as he should have as coolmore had 2 SW stallions above him in the pecking order. if you laugh at HR or HC I assume only Galileo would do for you. Coolmore will surely lose mares this year but if i were them I would get some good ones to HC to try and raise his profile for the coming seasons, there is no better SW stallion other than Galileo.

absolutely loves montjeu as a sire,not old enough to remember his as a race horse but ive seen the replays,and his KG win just left me in awe,gives me goose bumps everytime i see it,cantering past Group 1 animals as if they were selling platers,There's nothing better than a classy horse with a quirk or two about them,thats what make his progeny so unique,you can spot a montjeu a mile a mile away,but boy was he a special sire,and one who will be sorely missed

Great shame to lose such a good sire relatively early in his career. I suspect that there are some more Group 1 winners in the pipeline.

What a disaster for Coolmore to couple that with Danehill's untimely demise. Montjeu was beautiful horse and produced great great horses.

However IMHO he has yet to prove that he son's can do the goods at Stud yet. It could have been worse it could have been Galileo but that would be talking bullshit.

Its a massive shame but they have Camelot and St Nicholas Abbey, hopefully Hurricane Run and Pour Moi maybe the most commercial of all of them. They still have a few crops to come thru and considering the pool of mares at his disposal I would not be surprised if they could unearth at least 1 Montjeu Stallion over the next few years.

That is the game however and for anyone who every doubted why Coolmore keep doing what they do(business plan) its exactly to avoid overeliance on one sire.

Massive loss some great snaps in this link I found post on the RP comments

http://www.flickr.com/photos/41603621@N08/sets/72157622212462901/detail/

What tragic news a truly excellent racehorse and later a world class stallion,like so many have said a huge loss to the whole industry and for the poor horse himself he must of felt so ill that day.Often on this forum we have the debate as to who is the best stallion him or Galileo,but now sadly we will never be able to fully answer that,he can't now achieve the impact that looked so tantalisingly close.I would love Camelot and Wading both to forfill their promise and for the great Montjeu to be crowned champion sire all be it posthumously.
I just wonder if the posters who ridiculed my comments some time ago about the view held of Montjeu initial success at the start of his stallion career noticed what Tony Morris said about him in last Fridays Post?If they did they will then see I wasn't talking such rubbish after all.
Myself I can see the biggest benefactor of this disaster being fellow Coolmore sire Fastnet Rock,a stallion gaining a lot of momentum now and like Montjeu standing for a 'private' fee. I'm sure some will indeed switch to Pour Moi some will be offered a slot in Danehill Dancers book as his numbers are on the decline and maybe a few will go to both HC and HR but those stallions are not in the same league.Galileo's book has been full for ages now but one or two of Montjeu's best book could indeed make the switch.
Remember me saying before that the plan with Camelot is the Triple Crown.......but all the time A.O'B will play it down,esp'about his GNS run well now you can be sure if he makes the line up he won't be there for the day out!
What a stallion to loose what a lose to us all.Wading has a younger full bother if she does come good then there's a potential stallion to look forward to and one with a fantastic pedigree........lets hope so.

***loss***

Grand Slam died today

These things come in 3's.. who is next?