PRESS RELEASE
RAINBOW QUEST
Rainbow Quest, the most successful British sire in the history
of the European Pattern and twice champion sire of broodmares, had
to be put down on July 7, as a result of unresolvable complications
following emergency surgery for colic. The 26-year-old son of
Blushing Groom had been based at Banstead Manor Stud for the last
19 years, following his first two seasons standing at Juddmonte
Farms, Wargrave.
Rainbow Quest had been recruited to the Juddmonte team of Prince
Khalid Abdulla as a yearling in 1982, when his price of $950,000
placed him among the top 20 yearling colts at the American sales.
With such a price tag, Rainbow Quest was always the subject of
considerable expectations and he didn’t disappoint. Sent into
training with Jeremy Tree, he showed a high level of ability from
the very start, despite having a May 15 birthday. Rainbow Quest had
clearly inherited plenty of the speed and precocity that had made
his sire Blushing Groom the two-year-old sensation of 1976.
Tree had Rainbow Quest ready to make his debut in a 7-furlong
maiden race at Newmarket in August, and the youngster defeated his
29 opponents in style. Another big field faced Rainbow Quest at
Newbury the following month, when he started a hot favourite for
the Haynes, Hanson and Clark Stakes over a mile, and he produced
another very promising display to win.
Rainbow Quest’s victories were so impressive that he started second
favourite behind another unbeaten colt, El Gran Senor, in the Gr.1
Dewhurst Stakes. The betting proved accurate, with Rainbow Quest
proving the only one capable of extending the Irish raider and he
reduced El Gran Senor’s winning distance to half a length. The
compilers of the International Classifications had no hesitation in
ranking El Gran Senor and Rainbow Quest first and second among the
juveniles, separated by 1lb. Timeform was similarly impressed,
rating him 130.
Rainbow Quest confirmed his standing as one of the best of his
generation at three, when he won the Gr.2 Great Voltigeur Stakes
most impressively. He had started his three-year-old campaign by
running Lear Fan to a short head in the Gr.3 Craven Stakes over a
mile and then contested three classics. He found a mile too sharp
by that stage when fourth in the 2,000 Guineas but he then finished
a fine third, beaten two lengths by Darshaan and half a length by
Sadler’s Wells, in an unusually competitive Prix du Jockey-Club.
Sent to Ireland for the Irish Derby, he again proved to be the only
one capable of giving the brilliant El Gran Senor a race, running
him to a length.
With his late foaling date no longer a disadvantage at the age of
four, Rainbow Quest translated his new-found maturity into even
more impressive form. After cantering over the opposition in the
Clive Graham Stakes over 1¼ miles at Goodwood, he handed out the
same treatment to his six rivals in the Gr.1 Coronation Cup,
winning hard held from the Derby Italiano winner Old Country. He
then ran well to finish second to Pebbles in the Eclipse Stakes and
a close third in the King George but saved his best effort for the
Arc. Although he crossed the line a neck behind Sagace (an
impressive winner of the previous year’s Arc), the head-on camera
revealed that Sagace had twice bumped heavily into Rainbow Quest.
The stewards promoted Rainbow Quest to first place.
Timeform rated Rainbow Quest 134 and his International
Classification rating of 133 made him the joint-top older horse in
Europe. It is a measure of his tremendous ability that he achieved
a Timeform rating of at least 130 at the ages of two, three and
four, he was the first horse since Mill Reef and Brigadier Gerard
to achieve this feat.
His International Classification rating of 133 meant that Rainbow
Quest was officially recognised as the best of Blushing Groom’s
many European-raced offspring. This was quite an accolade, as
Blushing Groom sired 18 per cent stakes winners, including such as
Nashwan, Arazi, Groom Dancer, Rahy and Crystal Glitters.
Rainbow Quest’s powerful bloodlines also included an exceptional
female line. His dam, I Will Follow, became the third consecutive
generation of this famous line to become a Group winner when she
defeated Amazer (future winner of the Yellow Ribbon Stakes) in the
Gr.3 Prix de Minerve. I Will Follow was a daughter of the Oaks
runner-up Where You Lead, who in turn was out of Noblesse, who
established herself as one of the best-ever winners of the Oaks
when she eased home ten lengths clear in 1963
I Will Lead was one of two very good daughters of Where You Lead,
the other being the Oaks runner-up Slightly Dangerous. This
exceptional broodmare produced Warning, the champion of his
generation at two and three; Commander In Chief, winner of the
Derby and Irish Derby; Dushyantor, runner-up in the Derby and St
Leger; Deploy, runner-up in the Irish Derby; Yashmak, a Gr.1 winner
who was also second in the Irish Oaks and fourth in the Oaks; and
Jibe, runner-up in the Gr.1 Fillies’ Mile.
Is it any wonder, in view of the immense talent shown by his
family, that Rainbow Quest proved so effective as a stallion?
When his daughter Fashion Statement won the Oaks d’Italia a month
before Rainbow Quest’s death, she became no less than his 95th
stakes winner. If his outstanding Japanese son Sakura Laurel, a
winner of the Arima Kinen and Tenno Sho, is included, Rainbow Quest
has no fewer than 18 Gr.1 winners to his credit and his total of
Group winners stands at 58. These 58 represent nearly 6 per cent of
the 986 foals in his first 18 crops. Very few stallions ever come
close to this type of strike rate.
It took Rainbow Quest only two seasons at stud to come up with the
winners of the Derby, Irish Oaks, Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, Grand
Prix de Paris, Hollywood Turf Cup and Prix du Cadran. Since then he
has added many more top prizes to his collection, such as the Irish
2,000 Guineas, Oaks d’Italia, St Leger (twice), Prix Royal-Oak
(twice), Eclipse Stakes, Dubai Champion Stakes, Coronation Cup,
Prix Lupin and Prix d’Ispahan. Four of his offspring have become
Gr.1 winners at the age of two.
More recently, Rainbow Quest has earned recognition as an
outstanding sire of broodmares. The major winners out of Rainbow
Quest’s daughters include the classic winners North Light (Derby),
Kris Kin (Derby), Footstepsinthesand (2,000 Guineas) and Rakti
(Derby Italiano), plus Gr.1 winners of the calibre of Powerscourt
(Arlington Million), Polish Summer (Sheema Classic), Meteor Storm,
Marotta and Rebelline. As the latest Derby winner, Authorized, is
out of a grand-daughter of Rainbow Quest, this grand stallion
appears in the pedigree of three of the last five winners of the
Epsom classic.
Rainbow Quest already figures as the broodmare sire of six Group
winners in 2007 and his daughters have produced Group winners to
more than 30 different stallions. The chances are, then, that his
daughters are going to prove his richest legacy – the pot of gold
to be found at the end of the rainbow.
****
By one of those strange coincidences, Juddmonte’s veteran
broodmare Aryenne died at the age of 30 on July 9, two days after
Rainbow Quest’s demise. It was this classic-winning daughter of
Green Dancer who provided Rainbow Quest with his first classic
winner, when their son Quest For Fame took the 1990 Derby.
Aryenne was also the dam of the very smart Dancing
Brave filly Yenda, who produced the Gr.3 winner Notable
Guest.
Date:
09 July 2007