Pedigree Insights
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Andrew Caulfield, June 7, 2005–Motivator (GB) P EDIGREE INSIGHTS Further sparkle will be added to the mix if these potential stars clash with Hurricane Run. This son of BY ANDREW CAULFIELD Montjeu was arguably unlucky to be defeated for the first time in Sunday's G1 Prix du Jockey-Club, in which VODAFONE DERBY-G1, £1,250,000, Epsom, 6-4, 3yo, he didn't receive nearly as inspired a ride as Shamardal, c/f, 12f 10ydsT, 2:35.69, gd. the deserving winner. One thing is certain: Hurricane 1--MOTIVATOR (GB), 126, c, 3, by Montjeu (Ire) Run will improve further when he steps up to a mile 1st Dam: Out West (SW-Eng), by Gone West and a half. 2nd Dam: Chellingoua, by Sharpen Up (GB) If Montjeu does succeed in taking the sires' 3rd Dam: Uncommitted, by Buckpasser championship away from Sadler's Wells--and that won't (75,000gns yrl ‘03 TATOCT). O-The Royal Ascot be easy, as Sadler's Wells currently has more Racing Club; B-Deerfield Farm; T-Michael Bell; ammunition to draw on--there could be no more fitting J-Johnny Murtagh; £725,000. Lifetime Record: replacement. Montjeu is, after all, still recognized as the 4-4-0-0, £933,903. best son of Sadler's Wells, having achieved an 2--Walk In The Park (Ire), 126, c, 3, Montjeu (Ire)-- International Classification of 135 and a Timeform Classic Park (GB), by Robellino. (i130,000 yrl ‘03 rating of 137 during a career which featured six Group GOFORB; 270,000gns 2yo ‘04 TATAPR). O-Michael 1 victories. Tabor; B-Lodge Park Stud; T-J Hammond; £275,000. I am almost hoping that Montjeu will maintain his Click for the racingpost.co.uk chart or the free lead, so that Sadler's Wells will have sired a champion brisnet.com catalogue-style pedigree. sire in Britain and Ireland to add to El Prado, the Sadler's Wells' record-breaking reign as champion sire champion North American stallion of 2002 (and in Britain and Ireland now extends to an astonishing 13 runner-up in 2003 and 2004). That would surely finally years (and to 14 titles in the last 15 years). Not even silence the critics who have insisted that Sadler's Wells the multi-talented Danehill was able to wrest the is a disappointing sire of sires. championship from his fellow Coolmore stallion, although he once failed by less than i10,000. But last MOTIVATOR (GB), c, 2002 weekend's Classics in Europe raised the intriguing Nearctic Northern Dancer prospect that Sadler's Wells' epoch may be about to Natalma Sadler’s Wells end, with his crown fittingly passing to his son Bold Reason Fairy Bridge Montjeu. Special Montjeu (Ire) With Montjeu's sons Motivator and Walk in the Park High Top (Ire) Top Ville (Ire) adding exactly i1 million to his bankroll for their terrific *Sega Ville Floripedes (Fr) one-two in the Vodafone Derby, the nine-year-old Tennyson (Fr) Toute Cy (Fr) stallion is now over i400,000 clear on the leading Adele Toumignon sires' list. Sadler's Wells holds a clear second place, Raise a Native thanks partly to his four-year-old sons Day Flight and Mr. Prospector Gold Digger Yeats, with the latter adding 145,000 to his sire's Gone West i Secretariat bankroll with his unchallenged victory in the G1 Secrettame Out West Tamerett Coronation Cup. SW, 5-2-0-1 Atan Incidentally, Yeats represents the same Sadler's 5Fls, 1GSW Sharpen Up (GB) Chellingoua Rocchetta (GB) Wells--Top Ville cross which produced Montjeu, so he 7Fls, 1SW Buckpasser looks a ready-made addition to the Coolmore stallion Uncommitted 10Fls, 1GSW Lady Be Good team. It is going to be fascinating to see Yeats cross swords with Motivator in the richest middle-distance races, which help decide the sires' championship. Caulfield cont. www.coolmore.com Of course, there have been some failures, but The Coolmore team clearly took these possible Montjeu and El Prado are by no means the only prejudices into account in setting Montjeu's opening fee successful stallion sons of Sadler's Wells. The very at Ir30,000gns, compared to the Ir100,000gns they much underrated In the Wings sired 10 percent stakes were charging for Giant's Causeway (who completed a winners and over five percent group winners, including magnificent first-crop classic treble when Shamardal Singspiel (who featured over the weekend as the sire of held off Hurricane Run). Montjeu's fee was also the Group 1-winning Japanese horse Asakusa Den'en considerably less than Dubai Millennium's and only and the Grade II-winning American filly Three Degrees). around Ir5,000gns more than that charged for the 2000 Barathea has also proved an effective stallion in his Guineas winner King's Best, a winner of only one group price range, with two Group 1 winners last year. race. In the Wings and Barathea--both Breeders' Cup Even so, Montjeu's managers felt it necessary to winners--achieved International Classifications of 127 reduce his fee slightly in his second season, to to put themselves among the nine highest-rated sons of Sadler's Wells, along with Montjeu. Three of the other Ir27,500gns, because he was then in competition with six still haven't had a chance to prove themselves, Galileo. That reduction didn't stop his book falling from these being the young dual Derby winners Galileo (129) 139 mares in his first season to 113 in his second (with and High Chaparral (127), who are also members of the a consequence that his second crop numbers only Coolmore brigade, and the 2004 King George winner around 75 two-year-olds, compared to the 115 foals in Doyen (127), who is still in training. his first crop). By the time Montjeu's third season came Sadler's Wells' top nine are completed by Old Vic around, breeders had had a chance to see his (134), a sizeable disappointment as a flat sire, but impressive first foals, which proved very popular at the doing very well with his jumpers; Opera House (129), sales, and demand for his services revived in his third sire of the Japanese Horse of the Year T. M. Opera O; and fourth seasons. and Northern Spur (129), the Breeders' Cup Turf winner Then his first crop--headed by Motivator--produced who was ignored to such an extent in Kentucky that 20 juvenile winners to cast Montjeu in a different light his chances of success were virtually negligible. in the eyes of many breeders. This widespread success Northern Spur is by no means the only top-class son also helped boost Montjeu's fee--from i30,000 to of Sadler's Wells who has been in the wrong place at i45,000--and you can be sure that there will be a more the wrong time. Nor has he been the only son of substantial rise now that this crop is proving such a rich Sadler's Wells to have been penalized by breeders for source of stakes horses. being a mile-and-a-half horse. The danger of ignoring He may even attract some top-flight mares away this type of horse was amply demonstrated by In the Wings, whose fee fell as low as Ir^8,000 for part of his from his ageing sire, now that he has sired Motivator career. A triple mile-and-a-half Group 1 winner, In the from a Listed winner, Hurricane Run from a Listed- Wings was out of a very good mare who won twice at placed German mare and the UAE 2000 Guineas winner around a mile and three-quarters, yet that didn't Stagelight from another Listed winner. prevent him building up some highly impressive Motivator's dam, Out West, could hardly come from statistics. a better female line, even if her dam Chellingoua failed When Montjeu retired at the end of 2000, he to win and her second dam Uncommitted won only one certainly wasn't guaranteed to be entrusted with the of her eight starts. Her fourth dam is the celebrated very best mares. Although, like In the Wings, he had Lady Be Good, who numbers the top European milers been unbeaten in two juvenile starts including a Listed Zilzal, Polish Precedent, Posse and Intikhab among her race, he had gained seven of his nine subsequent numerous high-class descendants. successes over a mile and a half. He had clearly Uncommitted played her part in maintaining the inherited a good measure of the stamina, which had family's reputation, notably becoming the dam of the helped his dam Floripedes shine at around 1 7/8 miles-- high-class Wavering Monarch. Two off Uncommitted's roughly the distance of her win in the G3 Prix de Lutece daughters bred stakes winners to Gone West, one and her second in the G1 Prix Royal Oak. producing the smart American sprinter Western Borders Another factor which could have gone against while the other, Chellingoua, produced Out West, a Montjeu was that he doesn't look anything like Sadler's Listed winner over a mile at three. Wells, probably having more in common with his Motivator's breeders, Deerfield Farm, received only broodmare sire Top Ville (a possible source of Montjeu's highly strung, tantrum-prone temperament, 75,000gns for Motivator, from the bid of John Warren. which was evident to a degree in several members of However, the farm has a yearling full brother which Montjeu's team of six runners in the Derby and Prix du should redress the balance.