Sadler’s Wells, possibly the best sire Europe has ever known died peacefully at Coolmore Stud in Co Tipperary this afternoon, at the age of 30.
Sadler’s Wells has been Champion Sire in Great Britain and Ireland 14 times, as well as North America once and Champion Sire in France three times. The stallion had been retired, due to declining fertility, in May 2008.
A son of Northern Dancer by dam Fairy Bridge, Sadler’s Wells was bred by Robert Sangster in 1981 at Swettenham Stud, Kentucky.
Trained by Vincent O’Brien the stallion began his winning career in 1984, as a three-year-old, with the Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial. He won the Irish 2,000 Guineas, the Eclipse Stakes and the inaugural Phoenix Champion Stakes, finishing second in the Prix du Jockey Club and the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.
Sadler’s Wells has left a legacy at Coolmore through household names like Galileo, Montjeu, High Chaparral, Hurricane Run and Rip Van Winkle to name but a few.
An average healthy horse normally lives to around 25-30 years of age, however one of the oldest recorded horses lived to be 62 years old.
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