Cover image courtesy of Coolmore
For anyone that lived in Ireland or England at the turn of the millennium, the story of Rock Of Gibraltar was household. Here was a top-shelf racehorse co-owned by Coolmore and the manager of Manchester United, and the newspapers loved it.
From 2001 to the end of 2002, two glorious European seasons, Rock Of Gibraltar won seven Group 1 races from Longchamp to Royal Ascot and the Curragh. He netted £1.2 million in prizemoney, was European Horse of the Year and, with a mark of 128, was the top-ranked racehorse of his time.
Watch: Relive Rock Of Gibraltar's win in the G1 St James's Palace S. at Royal Ascot in 2002
Rock Of Gibraltar won 10 of his 13 lifetime starts, was twice second and unplaced only once. He possessed dizzy speed, great determination and, according to jockey-turned-trainer Johnny Murtagh, he was the complete competitor.
“If you tried to sit behind him he would outsprint you, and if you sat in front of him, you just gave him a lead,” Murtagh said. “He didn’t lack in any department.”
With the news this week that Rock Of Gibraltar had died in the Castlehyde arm of Coolmore Stud, and at the good age of 23, the whole amazing story of the horse was recalled. The son of Danehill (USA) had lived a fascinating, long and, at times, scandalous life that filled up newspapers and broadcasts.
Johnny Murtagh | Image courtesy of Tattersalls
Co-owned by Alex Ferguson, the then manager of Manchester United, Rock Of Gibraltar’s ownership ‘sent an ocean liner of positive public interest’ sailing through his career and, in the Racing Post at the time of the horse’s retirement, the public sentiment was evident.
‘Make no mistake, Rock Of Gibraltar was that old cliché – the talk of the pubs and clubs. He transcended racing into household namedon. People with little or no interest in horse racing switched on their tellies to see how Sir Alex’s horse would get on, and now he ranks right up there with Red Rum, Shergar, Frankie Dettori and Jenny Pitman.’
Danced every tune
From an Australian point of view, Rock Of Gibraltar was a Coolmore shuttle stallion from 2003 until 2010. In that first season he travelled, he debuted at a fee of $132,000 which, even by today’s standards, was impressive.
“It was an impressive fee, but he was an absolute champion,” said Irishman Peter O’Brien, who these days is the general manager of Segenhoe Stud. When Rock Of Gibraltar arrived, however, he was Coolmore Australia’s farm manager.
Rock Of Gibraltar (Ire) | Image courtesy of Coolmore
“Rock Of Gibraltar's sireline was the number one sireline down here, and he was a gorgeous-looking horse. He ticked every box to stand for that fee and he was supported accordingly.”
Rock Of Gibraltar served 141 mares in that first season at Jerrys Plains. Standing alongside him were the likes of Royal Academy (USA), Fusaichi Pegasus (USA) and Danehill Dancer (Ire).
“Of my entire life working with stallions, he was a freak of nature,” O’Brien said. “He covered every mare like it was his first mare, and I’ve never seen anything like his virility. His fertility was incredible, but his virility was off the charts.”
“Of my entire life working with stallions, he (Rock Of Gibraltar) was a freak of nature. He covered every mare like it was his first mare, and I’ve never seen anything like his virility. His fertility was incredible, but his virility was off the charts.” - Peter O'Brien
O’Brien remembers only Royal Academy having anything remotely similar to Rock Of Gibraltar in terms of enthusiasm for the job.
“We had all the bridles in the tackroom of the barn, and whenever Rock or Royal Academy heard a bridle rattle, they knew it was showtime,” he said. “They’d be at the door ready to go everytime.”
When Rock Of Gibraltar began shuttling to Australia in 2003, O’Brien had been with Coolmore for the best part of 15 years. It was a long enough tenure to know the stallions well, stallions that included the likes of Danehill, Sadler’s Wells (USA) and Caerleon (USA).
“At the time, we were looking at a horse like Danehill, who was a very good racehorse but he hadn’t been a Rock Of Gibraltar,” O’Brien said. “When Rock was coming to stud, I guess it was a bit like Anamoe going to stud next year. He’d been so tough on the track. Aidan (O’Brien) ran him a lot and the horse had danced every tune. He had the looks and the sireline and everybody, including myself, said this fellow was going to hit the board down here.”
“He (Rock Of Gibraltar) had the looks and the sireline and everybody, including myself, said this fellow was going to hit the board down here.” - Peter O'Brien
At that time, the shuttle phenomenon was really hitting its gears. In O’Brien’s own words, it was near its zenith. Australian breeders were swarming for shuttle stallions, and Rock Of Gibraltar was no different.
“They arrived as the second coming of Christ”, O’Brien said. “Everybody loaded into them and, because the bar was set so high for them, as soon as they had runners that didn’t ascend to where we thought they'd go, the stallions tapered off very quickly.”
The stud record
Across eight seasons shuttling to Australia, Rock Of Gibraltar sired 788 foals from 1093 mares served. He covered healthy books of around 140 right up until 2009, after which his popularity waned.
“Most Danehill-line sires have this big, loose walk, but Rock Of Gibraltar didn’t have that,” O’Brien recalls. “So when it came to his offspring going through the sales ring, because a lot of them lacked action and they were a little tubular as types, they never really hit the mark.
“You wonder whether his transmitting that lack of action was the reason he never really fired as a stallion.”
“You wonder whether his (Rock Of Gibraltar's) transmitting that lack of action was the reason he never really fired as a stallion.” - Peter O'Brien
In Australia, Rock Of Gibraltar had 494 runners for 307 winners. Of these, he sired 23 stakes winners, among which was 15 Group winners.
They included the G1 Epsom H. winner Rock Kingdom and the G2 Tulloch S. winner Book Of Kells. There were also the Group 2 winners Rock Me Baby, Jessy Belle and Pampelonne, all these in addition to the 139 worldwide stakes winners sired by Rock Of Gibraltar, 77 of those Group winners.
“He’s popping up these days as a broodmare sire,” O’Brien said. “When these top stallions go to stud, they’re covering some of the best mares imaginable, so regardless of whether they’re siring subsequent champions of racehorses, they’re still covering these wonderful bloodlines. These fillies that Rock Of Gibraltar was siring were generally so well-bred that they ended up good broodmares.”
Peter O'Brien | Image courtesy of Bronwen Healy
One such example was Rock Of Gibraltar meeting Shantha’s Choice (Canny Lad) in 2003. The result of that union was Sliding Cube, the dam of Rubick.
Bigger than racing
As with Danehill years earlier, Rock Of Gibraltar had a very public entrance to stud life. At the completion of his racing career, through which he’d carried the Ferguson silks, a very public battle ensued about Ferguson’s rights to the horse’s breeding career.
Locally, it was newspaper fodder because Manchester United was the darling of the English Premier League. Ferguson was an everyday name and, as a result, so was his horse, and anything that slighted Ferguson seemed to offend the legions of Manchester United fans.
In the end, it was reported that Coolmore and Ferguson settled the dispute out of court, and Rock Of Gibraltar started and ended his stud career forever in Coolmore ownership.
“Outside of all the ancillary stuff going on, he was a horse that was very dear to John Magnier,” O’Brien said.
“Outside of all the ancillary stuff going on, he (Rock Of Gibraltar) was a horse that was very dear to John Magnier.” - Peter O’Brien
In a way, the horse was almost a homebred for Coolmore, or at the very least a Coolmore product.
He was bred in 1999 by trainer Joe Crowley and his daughter Anne-Marie, along with her husband Aidan O’Brien, the current maestro of Ballydoyle. By Danehill, the bay horse was from the Be My Guest (USA) mare Offshore Boom (Ire), whom Crowley had purchased for a song from Moyglare Stud and who was Listed-placed before her breeding career.
On Monday, Coolmore’s Castlehyde Manager, Paddy Fleming, said Rock Of Gibraltar had ultimately died from heart failure at the age of 23.
“He was healthy and looking great right up to the end,” Fleming said. “He was a fantastic racehorse and a very good sire who will be missed by all the staff here.”
It’s been a long time since the horse’s two brilliant seasons on the track, but his death has sparked new headlines in the mainstream presses of Ireland and England this week. In that respect, it’s fair to say that Rock Of Gibraltar, like a few select others before and since him, was bigger than racing itself.
