Rousillon, the sire of 1993 Melbourne Cup winner Vintage Crop, has died in Japan.  The 28 year-old stallion died of natural causes at the Nasu Stallion Station on Monday.

Rousillon (USA) was a G1 winner of the 1985 Prix du Moulin at Longchamp and Sussex Stakes at Goodwood before retiring to stud.  Vintage Crop won the 1993 Irish St Leger prompting Dermot Weld to send him to Australia for a ground-breaking victory in that year’s Melbourne Cup.  He won the Irish St Leger again in 1994.

Rousillon (Riverman) was sent to Japan in 1991 and sired top-ranked horses such as Intelli Power (2000 Kawasaki Kinen) and Meiner Bridge (1995 NHK Cup & Fukushima Kinen).  More recently, he was widely known as the damsire of Japanese Horse of the Year Vodka.

Rousillon was stationed at JBBA Shizunai and Shichinohe Stallion Stations before retiring to JBBA Nasu Stallion Station in 2005.