RAINBOW QUEST DIES AT 26
Taken from the Racing Post,
By Nancy Sexton
RAINBOW QUEST, the most successful British-based stallion in
recent years, died on Saturday at Rossdales Equine Hospital in
Newmarket as a result of complications following emergency surgery
for colic.
The 26-year-old son of Blushing Groom, who had stood the past 21
years under the Juddmonte banner, had covered 47 mares this year at
a fee of £25,000. The colic was caused by strangulation of his
small intestine by a fatty tumor.
“He had just completed his 21st season at stud under the
management of Juddmonte, and we have lost both a very good friend
to us and a stallion of international renown,” said Phillip
Mitchell, general manager of Juddmonte Farms.
“It was a great privilege to work with Rainbow Quest, especially
as he has made such a significant mark on the stud book through his
sons and daughters,” said Simon Mockridge of Banstead Manor. “He
will be sorely missed, in particular by John Gilbert, who cared for
him for most of his career.”
Since his first crop hit the racecourse in 1989, Rainbow Quest
has remained at the forefront of the British stallion ranks, siring
18 Group/Grade 1 winners and 95 stakes winners, results which have
earned him tenth place in the all-time leading pattern sires' list.
He has also excelled as a broodmare sire, with his daughters
producing the Derby winners North Light and Kris Kin, as well as
the crack miler Rakti.
“Virtually throughout his long stud career, Rainbow Quest was
simply the best sire in service in England,” said Tony Morris, the
Racing Post's bloodstock expert on Monday. “The statistics are
unequivocal about that.”
“Over the last few years he also became more important as a
broodmare sire, and his influence in that regard will continue to
grow. He has made a tremendous contribution to British racing and
breeding.”
At $950,000, Rainbow Quest was the second highest-priced
yearling sold at the 1982 Fasig-Tipton July sale when purchased by
James Delahooke on behalf of Khalid Abdullah.
He was the second foal out of the Group 3-winning Herbager mare
I Will Follow, and was closely related to Slightly Dangerous, the
dam of stars such as Warning and Commander In Chief.
Sent to Jeremy Tree, he didn't make his debut until August of
his juvenile year, when sent off the third favourite in a 30-runner
7f maiden at Newmarket.
He didn't disappoint, winning impressively, and it was a similar
story when he won his next start, the Haynes, Hanson and Clark
Conditions Stakes over 1m at Newbury, despite shouldering a 5lb
penalty.
Brought back a furlong to contest the Dewhurst Stakes, Rainbow
Quest was the only runner able to challenge the subsequent 2,000
Guineas winner El Gran Senor, although the Ballydoyle-trained colt
was not hard pressed to win by half a length.
Rainbow Quest started his three-year-old season by running Lear
Fan to a short head in the Group 3 Craven Stakes, but a distant
fourth in the 2,000 Guineas saw him stepped up in trip for the
French Derby, in which he finished thirdbehind the subsequent
top-class sires Darshaan and Sadler's Wells. He finished second to
El Gran Senor in the Irish Derby, but he regained the winning
thread when taking the Group 2 Great Voltigeur Stakes, earning him
the accolade of champion three-year-old stayer.
At four he trounced the Italian Derby hero, Old Country, in the
Group 1 Coronation Cup, proving that his free, extravagant action
was no hindrance around the undulations of Epsom.
After boiling over when a well-beaten second behind Pebbles in the
Group 1 Eclipse Stakes, he ran a much better race when a close
third to Petoski in a thrilling finish for the Group 1 King George
and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.
However, it was to be his next victory, in the 1985 Prix de
l'Arc de Triomphe, for which he would be best remembered.
Rainbow Quest crossed the line a neck behind the previous year's
winner, Sagace. But a head-on film of the race revealed that Sagace
had bumped Rainbow Quest more than once inthe run to the line,
enough for the Abdullah colt to be awarded the race.
His regular rider, Pat Eddery, said: “I have great memories of
Rainbow Quest, just fantastic. Sagace interfered with us three
times and beat us only a neck in the Arc, and we got the race in
the stewards' room. Rainbow Quest was an exceptionally good horse
and without doubt one of the best I ever rode.”
Rainbow Quest was given an International Classifications rating
of 133 in 1985, making him the joint-top older horse in training in
Europe, as well as Blushing Groom's best performer, ahead of
Nashwan and Arazi.
As the winner of six races and £482,812 in prize-money, Rainbow
Quest was always destined to be popular with breeders, and he
retired to Juddmonte Farms at Wargravein 1986, where he stood for
two seasons at a fee of £25,000 before his transfer to Banstead
Manor Stud.
Although his first juveniles only produced three domestic
winners, they were a crop of immense promise. By the end of the
1990 racing season, his first three-year-olds included the Derby
winner Quest For Fame, who provided Tree's former assistant, Roger
Charlton, with a first British Classic win, Arc winner Saumarez,
and Irish Oaks winner Knight's Baroness.
They were a firm barometer of what was to come, as his next 18
crops produced the Classic winners Spectrum, successful in the
Irish 2,000 Guineas, and Millenary and Nedawi, both winners of the
St Leger, as well as other Group 1 winners such as Croco Rouge,
Fiji, Rainbow Dancer, Raintrap and Urgent Request.
Unlike some stallions, his fillies were just as talented as the
colts.
Rainbow Quest is likely to be remembered as one of the best
broodmare sires in recent times. Not only have his daughters
produced two Derby winners, but they have also bred the 2,000
Guineas winner Footstepsinthesand, Arlington Million winner
Powerscourt, as well as Group/Grade 1 winners Meteor Storm, Polish
Summer, Marotta and Rebelline. As such, Rainbow Quest was crowned
champion broodmare sire in 2003 and 2004.
Hopes were high that his sons would also leave their mark, but
there have been more disappointments than successes in that
department, although Nedawi has made an excellent start in
Brazil.
Spectrum sired the 2,000 Guineas winner Golan, but a mixed bag
of results saw him banished to South Africa, also the home of
Saumarez, the damsire of Authorized. Croco Rouge was re-patriated
as a jumps stallion in 2006 after a stint in Japan, while Quest For
Fame now stands in Australia following some moderate results in the
US. Armiger left little in Japan, while Urgent Request and
Millenary stand under the jumps banner in France and Ireland.
Rainbow Quest stood the majority of his career at a fee ranging
from £25,000 to £30,000, and was never advertised for more than the
£50,000 that he commanded from 2000-2002.
Rainbow Quest's death marks the end of an era. Few top-class
racehorses are able to churn out high-class performers in the
consistent manner that was to become his trademark, and his
influence is likely to be felt for some time to come. Quite simply,
he was the whole package.
Date: 09 July 2007