Confirmation that Montjeu is gathering momentum as a significant sire of sires continued when Complacent (Authorized) won the G1 Spring Champion Stakes at Randwick.
It followed on from Treve (Motivator) scoring a Group 1 stunner in the Arc de Triomphe half a world away the previous weekend.
Montjeu (Sadler’s Wells) enjoyed classic dominance with Derby victories in France and Ireland in 1999 and complimented that success against older horses in the G1 Arc de Triomphe. In his final season of racing the following year, Montjeu franked his prowess at 2400m with a commanding victory in the King George V1 & Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes at Ascot.
Montjeu died in March 2012 and he continues to enhance an already outstanding record through the success of his sons at stud. Among Montjeu’s 107 stakes winners and 28 Group 1 winners are no fewer than 15 classic winners. And among his classic winners are four English Derby winners – Authorized, Motivator, Pour Moi and Camelot – all of whom have been retired to stud but only two of whom have had progeny old enough to race.
Windsor Park Stud achieved great success with both Montjeu and High Chaparral when they shuttled to the Cambridge nursery from Coolmore Stud in Ireland. The latter’s latest flag-bearer is Australian Derby winner It’s A Dundeel.
Windsor Park’s current roster includes Pour Moi and Montjeu’s NZ bred Moonee Valley G2 winner Guillotine.
Pour Moi is bred on identical lines to High Chaparral being a grandson of Sadler’s Wells out of a top class broodmare by French Derby winner and champion sire Darshaan,
Both High Chaparral and Pour Moi are two of the finest examples of this extraordinarily successful tryst with their similarities also including the fact that both were classic winners of the English Derby.
It is perhaps worth remembering the words of the legendary Italian breeder Federico Tesio and his defining assessment of the breed: “The thoroughbred exists because its selection has depended not on experts, technicians or zoologists, but one piece of wood – the winning post of the English Derby.”
MONTJEU