Andrew Caulfield, June 28, 2005–Hurricane Run (Ire) P EDIGREE INSIGHTS Since that article, Montjeu has added Dash To The Top to his total of stakes winners, which now stands at BY ANDREW CAULFIELD seven from a first crop of 115, and his son Mr Vegas has been named as a contender for the St Leger BUDWEISER IRISH DERBY-G1, i1,252,100, The following his second in the G3 Queen’s Vase. His Curragh, 6-26, 3yo, c/f, 1 1/2mT, 2:29.40, gd/fm. daughter Montare was beaten only two lengths when 1--sHURRICANE RUN (IRE), 126, c, 3, by Montjeu (Ire) fourth in Sunday’s G2 Prix de Malleret. 1st Dam: Hold On (Ger) (SP-Ger), by Surumu (Ger) One of the exciting aspects of Montjeu’s success 2nd Dam: Hone (GB), by Sharpen Up (GB) story is the wide range of broodmare sires involved. 3rd Dam: Lucy (GB), by Sheshoon (GB) When he retired, an obvious strategy was to match this O/B-Gestut Ammerland; T-Andre Fabre; J-Kieren sizeable, rangy, elegant middle-distance horse with Fallon; i745,100. Lifetime Record: 5-4-1-0, powerful, medium-sized mares with speed in their i1,180,900. *1/2 to Hibiscus (Ger) (Law Society), pedigree. Motivator’s dam, a mile Listed winner by GSW & G1SP-Ger, $194,551. Gone West, conforms pretty well to that description, Click for the free racingpost.co.uk chart or the free but Montjeu is showing that he is also an excellent brisnet.com catalogue-style pedigree. match for mares by staying stallions. The broodmare sires of his black-type performers Over the years, no race has better demonstrated the include Nashwan, Shirley Heights, Darshaan, Law extent of Sadler’s Wells’ dominance than the Budweiser Society and Surumu, all of whom were winners of one Irish Derby. During the 17 years in which he has had or other of Europe’s Derbys. Another is out of a mare three-year-olds, he has sired the winner of this Classic by Shernazar, a staying half-brother to the Derby on six occasions and he underlined the scale of his winner Shergar. dominance by siring the first three in 1999, Montjeu’s Breeders sometimes fear that mating a mile-and-a-half year, and the first four when High Chaparral captured mare to a mile-and-a-half stallion will somehow produce the race three years later. a mile-and-three-quarter runner. However, there is no There was therefore a certain symmetry to the fact logical reason why the foal should be any less speedy that Montjeu’s first crop was responsible for three of than its parents, especially when the stallion was a the nine runners in the latest edition of the Irish Derby, Listed winner at two and was effective over a mile and which also included a colt by Sadler’s Wells and one by a quarter, as was Montjeu. Sadler’s Wells’ son In the Wings (sire of the 1995 Despite being a grandson of Northern Dancer, winner Winged Love). With Hurricane Run wearing Montjeu has a pedigree which makes him suitable for down Scorpion, the finish was dominated by two-thirds the majority of mares, which makes him even more of the Montjeu contingent (and there were excuses valuable to the Coolmore operation. Coolmore has made for the third son, Walk In The Park). This means already stepped in to buy Hurricane Run, perhaps that, thanks to Motivator, Walk In The Park, Hurricane because--with a Surumu mare as his dam - he too has a Run and Scorpion, Montjeu’s first crop has produced pedigree free of many of the widespread European and the first and second in both the Derby and the Irish American influences. Derby, plus the close second in the French Derby. Few stallions have exerted as big an influence on the It also means that Montjeu now has a clear lead on German Derby in recent years as Surumu. Among the the British and Irish sires’ table, with the Racing Post many achievements of Gestut Fahrhof’s outstanding crediting him with earnings of £1,992,246, compared stallion were six sires’ championships in the space of to Danehill’s £1,102,087 and Sadler’s Wells’ eight years and numerous broodmare sire £934,954. Although Montjeu’s number of runners is championships. Surumu also exerted a powerful only around half that of his main rivals, he now looks to influence on the German Derby, taking this Classic by have every chance of finally toppling Sadler’s Wells seven lengths in 1977 before siring the winners from his throne, as I mooted a few weeks ago. Acatenango (1985), Mondrian (1989) and Temporal(1991). www.coolmore.com He also sired the 2003 Derby Italiano winner Osorio from his last crop. His son Acatenango proved similarly Nearctic Northern Dancer important to the German industry and it was a daughter Natalma Sadler’s Wells ‘81 of Surumu who produced Monsun, one of the current Bold Reason Fairy Bridge stars among Germany’s stallions. Montjeu (Ire) Special Hurricane Run’s dam, Hold On, won at up to 1 3/8 (1996) High Top (Ire) Top Ville (Ire) miles in Germany, as well as finishing second in a *Sega Ville Floripedes (Fr) ‘85 Listed race over 1 1/8 miles. Hurricane Run is her Tennyson (Fr) Toute Cy (Fr) second Group 1 performer, following the Law Society Adele Toumignon (Ire) colt Hibiscus, who failed by only a head to defeat the Birkhahn (Ger) Literat (Ger) German Derby winner Belenus in the G1 Europa-Preis Lis (Ger) Surumu (Ger) ‘74 over a mile and a half. Reliance (Fr) Hold On (Ger) Surama (Ger) Hurricane Run’s second dam is Hone, a mare with the (1991) Suncourt (GB) type of record which brings joy to owners and breeders SP Atan Hone (GB) ‘74 Sharpen Up (GB) with very limited funds at their disposal. Hone was a 8 Fls, 2 GSW MSW Rocchetta (GB) member of the first crop by the excellent Sharpen Up, 10 Fls, 2 Ch, Lucy (GB) Sheshoon (GB) but Sharpen Up was an unproven, inexpensive stallion 5 GSW 10 Fls, 1 GSW, 1 Laverock (GB) at that time and Hone was sold for a mere 220 guineas SW as a yearling. She made a winning debut over five furlongs at two, but was soon sold to race in Belgium, where she did extremely well, notably winning Les Guinees. Belgian racing doesn’t have a very high profile, but that didn’t stop Hone from developing into a highly effective broodmare during a career which took her to several different countries. Her first three foals were all important winners in Belgium, taking such races as Les Guineas, the Derby Belge and the Saint Leger, but some of her later foals raced with distinction against stiffer opposition in Germany. Her Caerleon colt Hondo Mondo and her Damister colt Hondero respectively won at Group 2 and Group 3 levels. Despite Hone’s cheapness as a yearling, she comes from a stamina-packed family which did well for Lord Rosebery’s very successful breeding operation. Her fourth dam was the luckless Ribbon, who was given the following write-up in Phil Bull’s Best Horses of 1943: “Poor Ribbon! Would anyone have thought it possible that a filly could be so dogged by misfortune! In not a single one of her six races did she have a square deal, and in only one of them was she able to triumph over fate’s ill treatment. That was in her first race...there- after, her cup of ill-luck was full to overflowing.” Ribbon was narrowly beaten in the 1000 Guineas, Oaks and St Leger, having stumbled slightly when in the lead in the Guineas, having lost valuable ground when hampered at the start in the Oaks and having been bumped in the St Leger. It is a measure of Ribbon’s class that the colts she defeated in the St Leger included the Derby winner Straight Deal, the 2000 Guineas winner Kingsway, the legendary Nasrullah and Persian Gulf. With a pedigree like this, Hurricane Run will have no difficulty in staying further than a mile and a half. Unfortunately, in today’s industry, he is most unlikely to be asked to do so, as a win in the St Leger would probably condemn him to Coolmore’s National Hunt division rather than confirm his place alongside his sire at head office, where he is going to have plenty to offer..