3 year old campaign
Trained in France by John Hammond, Montjeu came to prominence in 1999, when he established himself as Europe's best middle-distance three-year-old.
Michael Tabor's imposing son of Sadler's Wells stormed to victory in both the Prix du Jockey Club, and the Irish Derby, before being put away for an Arc preparation.
He came back to win the Prix Niel, before landing the big one itself following a gruelling renewal on the heavy Longchamp turf. In a memorable finish, Montjeu, under Mick Kinane's driving, got up to deprive the Japanese raider, El Condor Pasa, of a landmark victory.
Montjeu wins the 1999 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe
"Concorde"
The decision was taken to buck the trend and keep Montjeu in training for a four-year-old campaign in the year 2000, when the King George at Ascot, together with the defence of his Arc de Triomphe crown, would form the principle targets in his programme.
It was a decision that showcased this outstanding colt to the racing world.....
Montjeu reappeared at The Curragh in the Group 1 Tattersalls Gold Cup. Sent off at odds of 1-3 on, he faced just 4 rivals in the mile-and-a-quarter contest, and he cruised to an effortless success under Kinane, making good horses like Greek Dance and Mutafaweq appear hopelessly outclassed.
Next it was the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, where Cash Asmussen took over from Kinane who had to miss the ride due to a back injury. Montjeu was hugely impressive once again, as he quickened clear to win with ease by 5 lengths from just three rivals.
Asmussen was clearly impressed, and compared the horse to the supersonic jet, Concorde.
King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes
Montjeu appeared to be an even stronger and more mature racehorse than he was the previous year, and it was onto Ascot next for the King George V1 and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes, the mid-summer all-age showpiece.
I had the pleasure of being paddock-side on that sweltering day at Ascot as this French champion made his way in. He towered over his rivals on looks as well as in action.
He was sent off at 1/3 to see off six rivals, headed by the Coronation Cup winner Daliapour and Fantastic Light, winner of the Dubai Sheema Classic.
Also in the line-up were Air Shakur from Japan and Raypour from the John Oxx stable acting as a pacemaker for Daliapour.
The British crowd were left in stunned disbelief as Montjeu produced 'the definitive performance of his dazzling career'.
It had been thirty years (1970) since the peerless Nijinsky strolled to success under Lester Piggott in the King George with a display of supreme dominance, cantering over the previous year's Derby winner, Blakeney.
Shades of Vincent O'Brien's immortal Triple Crown winner were very much vivid in the memory here as magnificent Montjeu, under Michael Kinane's breathtaking confidence, went to the line coasting on the bridle, proving himself in a completely different league to Fantastic Light and Daliapour.
The fast ground at Ascot was the only pre-race concern for Montjeu - he had won the Arc on heavy going - but he won with contemptuous ease and majestic swagger as Kinane's ice-cool confidence was derived from the phenomenal champion beneath him.
The record 36,604 Diamond Day crowd went home with a memory to take to the grave.
Montjeu's seminal moment in the 2000 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes
The Arc again
Montjeu had won the King George with unbelieveable ease, and there was now much hype and speculation about a possible 'super clash' with Dubai Millennium, the other outstanding older horse in training and spectacular winner of the Dubai World Cup.
The head-to-head would have been on a par with the Brigadier Gerard Vs Mill Reef re-match which unfortunately never came to fruition in 1972. Just like Mill Reef though, Dubai Millennium's career came to a shuddering halt through injury and the super-race dreams were dashed.
For Montjeu, it was all about becoming the first horse since Alleged in the 1970s to win back-to-back runnings of the Arc, and John Hammond's superstar came through his trial in the Prix Foy with the minimum of fuss to set up the clash with the dual Derby winner Sinndar in the Arc.
Montjeu was odds-on in the Paris sunshine to retain his Arc crown, but performed way below his imperious best in finishing fourth of the ten runners behind Sinndar, the Anglo-Irish Derby double winner.
Career end and legacy
Just as Montjeu had emulated Nijinsky in cantering to success in the King George, so his career miraged that of Ireland's greatest flat horse, in that he to was to succumb to defeat on his final two starts.
Just as Nijinsky had, three decades previous, Montjeu was beaten at Newmarket in the Champion Stakes- Kalanisi proving too good by half a length.
Montjeu was a shadow of the horse when failing in the Breeders Cup Turf on his final start.
He retired to stand alongside his great sire, Sadler's Wells, at Coolmore, where he himself is proving to be an outstanding influence for middle-distance champions, having been represented to date by Group 1 winners Hurricane Run, Authorized, Motivator, Frozen Fire (all European Derby winners) as well as Montmartre, Papal Bull and Scorpion.
The best son of Sadler's Wells, Montjeu was an exceptional racehorse, one of the best twelve-furlong performers seen throughout the past 20 years, a giant in both stature and achievement, and only the sixth horse (at time of writing) to win both the King George and the Arc, Europe's two principal all-age contests.
King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes
