Pedigree Insights: Wings Of Eagles

Such has been the dominance of Galileo (Ire) in Britain and Ireland's mile classics this year that there appeared to be every chance that the eight-time champion sire would also dominate the Investec Oaks and Derby. After all, he was represented by the odds-on favourite, Rhododendron (Ire), in the Oaks and his influence pervaded the Derby field – in addition to being responsible for five of the 18 runners, including the strongly fancied Cliffs of Moher (Ire), Galileo was the paternal grandsire of four other contenders, thanks to Frankel (GB) (2), Teofilo (Ire) and Nathaniel (Ire). For good measure, the outsider Salouen had a dam by Galileo, to take Team Galileo to ten. In the end, Galileo failed to add to his two winners of the Oaks and three winners of the Derby but he still took a share of the limelight. It was the exciting Enable (GB), a member of Nathaniel's first crop, who outstayed Rhododendron in a fast-run edition of the Oaks. This was the second time in five years that a filly by a son of Galileo had beaten a daughter of Galileo into second place in the Oaks, the first instance being New Approach's daughter Talent, who defeated Secret Gesture.

Galileo also had to settle for second place in the Derby, with Cliffs of Moher just getting the better of Frankel's sons Cracksman and Eminent in a tight battle for the runner-up position. Galileo therefore still has work to do if he is to match the magnificent Derby record of Montjeu (Ire), his former stud companion at Coolmore who died at the age of 16 during the 2012 breeding season. Himself a winner of two mile-and-a-half classics – the Prix du Jockey-Club and Irish Derby – Montjeu had the extraordinary record of having sired four winners of the Epsom Derby in the space of eight years, thanks to Motivator (GB), Authorized (Ire), Pour Moi (Ire) and Camelot (GB). To put this achievement into perspective, the only other stallions to have sired as many as four winners of the Derby are Sir Peter Teazle (four in nine years more than 200 years ago), Waxy (four in seven years in the early 1800s), Cyllene (four in eight years in the early 1900s) and Blandford (four in seven years during the 1920s and '30s). Needless to say, Montjeu had many more foals than these stallions from very different eras but I could add that his total of northern hemisphere foals stood at fewer than 1,100 foals, whereas Galileo already has around 1,800 northern hemisphere foals aged three or over.

Montjeu was therefore the most dominant modern-day stallion in the Derby, his nearest pursuers being Northern Dancer, Nijinsky and Galileo, with three each. In the circumstances, perhaps it wasn't so surprising that the colt who proved too good for Team Galileo three days ago – the largely unconsidered Wings of Eagles (Fr)- is a grandson of Montjeu, sired by his 2011 Derby winner Pour Moi. The way Wings of Eagles swooped very late for victory was highly reminiscent of Pour Moi's late surge (though rider Padraig Beggy had the good sense not to repeat Mickael Barzalona's over-the-top celebrations before the line). Pour Moi also thwarted Galileo, as the colt he caught close home was Galileo's future Irish Derby winner Treasure Beach (GB).

Because Wings of Eagles' odds of 40-1 reflected a previous record of only one win from five starts, there is naturally a question about the colt's ability to reproduce his Derby form. Remember, though, that Montjeu also sired four winners of the Irish Derby in the space of eight years. Camelot was the only one to complete the English and Irish Derby double, his other winners being Hurricane Run (Ire), Frozen Fire (Ger) and Fame and Glory (GB). Pour Moi never had the chance to follow up his Epsom triumph at the Curragh. He was being prepared instead for an Arc bid when he suffered a severe overreach on his near-fore in the last week of August. He therefore retired to Coolmore as a winner of three of his five starts, at a fee of €20,000.

While it appears to be very easy to persuade Irish breeders to flock to any bog-standard two-year-old Group winner with a sprinter's pedigree, it often proves much harder for a mile-and-a-half horse with a classic pedigree to earn similar numerical support. Pour Moi is a case in point. He is credited with covering books of 134, 78, 73, 100 and 57 in his first five seasons, with Wings of Eagles being one of 51 foals in his second crop. During those five years Pour Moi's fee fell quickly to €12,500 and finally to €10,000. Consequently, it was no surprise when an announcement was made in February that Pour Moi would be joining Coolmore's National Hunt division. The move came soon after the death of Montjeu's admirable son Fame and Glory, who had been consigned straight to the National Hunt team despite a terrific record which featured G1 successes at the ages of two, three, four and five. Coolmore's National Hunt team also includes Montjeu's St Leger winner Leading Light and his Derby second Walk In The Park.

This clearly will not help Montjeu establish an enduring male line in the northern hemisphere (though his son Tavistock is doing extremely well in New Zealand). Montjeu's chances of doing so haven't been helped by the intermittent problems suffered by Motivator. These haven't stopped Motivator siring the brilliant Treve (Fr), who acts as a reminder that four of the five northern hemisphere G1 winners by sons of Montjeu are fillies. Altogether fillies account for 20 of their 36 northern hemisphere group winners. This suggests that Montjeu's ongoing influence in Europe may largely be through his broodmare daughters and grand-daughters, despite his daughters' reputation for being very quirky. The best winners with a dam by Montjeu include the top miler Charm Spirit (Ire), the American sprinter-miler Obviously (Ire) and those fine fillies Legatissimo (Ire) and Journey (GB).

Another of their G1 winners, the Dewhurst S. winner Parish Hall (Ire), was sired by Galileo's son Teofilo and is therefore inbred 3 x 3 to Sadler's Wells. The weekend's Epsom classics suggest we are going to see more close inbreeding to the 14-time champion sire, as Oaks winner Enable is inbred 3 x 2 and Derby fourth Eminent 3 x 3, with both of these being sired by sons of Galileo. Of course, it is far too soon to be writing off Montjeu as a sire of sires. This year sees the first runners by Camelot, whose 2,000 Guineas victory stamped him as Montjeu's fastest son, and Camelot's yearlings created a very favourable impression at the sales.

To get back to Pour Moi, Wings of Eagles is his second Group winner, following the surprising fast filly Only Mine (Ire). He also enjoyed G1 success with the two-year-old Sacred Elixir (NZ) in Australia in 2016. It's fair to say that Pour Moi enjoyed plenty of help from Wings of Eagles' dam Ysoldina (Fr). This daughter of Kendor (Fr) is a classic-placed half-sister to no fewer than four Group winners, headed by the G1 Prix Saint-Alary winner Belle Et Celebre (Fr) and the G2 ten-furlong winner Whortleberry (Fr). Ysoldina managed only one win from 11 starts, even though she possessed the talent to be placed in five Group races, notably finishing second to Divine Proportions in the G3 Prix de la Grotte and third behind the same filly in the G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches.

It is easy to understand why Gilles and Aliette Forien decided to send Ysoldina to Ireland to visit Pour Moi. Apparently Ysoldina is bigger than average, so the 15.3-hands Pour Moi was an attractive size. Then there's the Zeddaan factor. Montjeu's third dam was by Zeddaan and he sired four G1 winners with two lines of Zeddaan. The stallions involved were Zeddaan's son Kalamoun (GB) (sire of the second dam of Grand Prix de Paris and St Leger winner Scorpion), Kalamoun's son Kenmare (Fr) (sire of the dam of the Irish St Leger winner Jukebox Jury {Ire}) and Kenmare's son Kendor (broodmare sire of the brothers Corre Caminos (Fr) and Recital (Fr), winners respectively of the 2006 Prix Ganay and the 2010 Criterium de Saint-Cloud).

Altogether there were ten Montjeu stakes winners with two lines of Zeddaan, another being the record-setting hurdler Hurricane Fly (Ire), so this was a very well tried and tested route.