Top international sire Montjeu got his 125th black-type stakes winner May 14 when Irish-bred Red Cardinal won a two-mile group stakes at Hoppegarten in Germany.
Bred by Lynch Bages and raced by Australian Bloodstock Stable, Red Cardinal is Montjeu's 73rd graded/group winner, giving the sire a remarkably strong 6% graded/group winners from starters. Among the top 1% of stallions worldwide by total earnings from 1993-02, the breed average for graded/group winners from starters is 3.1%.
Montjeu, a son of Sadler's Wells—Floripedes, by Top Ville, won the 1999 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe Lucien Barriere (G1) and was named European champion 3-year-old colt that year. Raced by Michael Tabor and later in partnership with Susan Magnier, Montjeu won five other group 1 races and entered stud at Coolmore Stud, where his highest published stud fee was €125,000.
He stood at Coolmore until 2012 when he had to be euthanized due to septicemia, an infection in the bloodstream.
It is fitting that Red Cardinal reached this milestone in a two-mile route considering the proclivity for distance among Montjeu's progeny. The average winning distance for his progeny is 11.73 furlongs.
Montjeu has several sons at stud including Camelot at Coolmore; Authorized at Haras du Logis, Joshua Tree at Haras du Grand Courgeon, and Motivator at Haras du Quesnay in France; Jukebox Jury at Gestut Etzean in Germany; and, Tavistock at Cambridge Stud in New Zealand.
