Cheveley Park Stud's Medicean pensioned due to fertility issues

Cheveley Park Stud stalwart Medicean, the sire of ten top-level winners including multiple Group 1 scorers Dutch Art and Nannina, has been retired from covering duties at the age of 20 after suffering from fertility issues.

"Medicean is one of the kindest horses to be around, who I feel was underrated by many, having sired some ten Group 1 winners during his successful career," commented Cheveley Park's managing director Chris Richardson.

The son of Machiavellian was bred and raced by Patricia and David Thompson's Cheveley Park Stud, winning six of his 12 starts for Sir Michael Stoute and amassing over £545,000 in prize-money.

The strapping chestnut was unraced at two, but quickly made up for lost time when winning three of his eight starts at three, including the Group 2 Celebration Mile, in which he beat Observatory by a length.

However, it was not until his four-year-old campaign that Medicean really flourished, and he duly began his season with a last-gasp success over Warningford in the Group 1 Lockinge Stakes.

That was followed up with victory at Royal Ascot in the Queen Anne Stakes - in which he achieved his highest Racing Post Rating (RPR) of 126 - and the Coral-Eclipse, in which he again came from a long way back under Kieren Fallon to wear down Bach and Grandera late on to add a second Group 1 to his enviable race record.

MEDICEAN'S TOP TEN RUNNERS BY RACING POST RATINGS

Horse (Damsire) Peak RPR

Dutch Art (Spectrum) 122
Al Shemali (Generous) 121
Bankable (Sadler's Wells) 121
Mr Medici (Platini) 121
Capponi (Zilzal) 120
Siyouma (Danehill) 119
Nannina (Danehill) 119
Sapphire (Danehill) 118
Mince (Danehill Dancer) 116
Panama Hat (Rock Of Gibraltar) 116

He retired from racing at the conclusion of his four-year-old season, and began covering duties at Cheveley Park in 2002 at a fee of £15,000.

He finished among the leading first-crop sires of his generation, having supplied Fillies' Mile winner Nannina among his first two-year-olds in 2005.

The following year Nannina went on to land the Coronation Stakes, while Medicean's second-crop son Dutch Art enjoyed an unbeaten two-year-old campaign that included wins in the Prix Morny and Middle Park Stakes.

At three, Dutch Art went on to finish a close second to Sakhee's Secret in the July Cup, achieving a mark of 122, a figure that saw him crowned Medicean's leading performer by RPRs.

That high-achieving pair would later be joined by the likes of Dubai Duty Free winner Al Shemali, Secretariat Stakes scorer Bayrir, Grosser Dallmayr Bayerisches Zuchtrennen victor Neatico and Sun Chariot heroine Siyouma as Group 1-winning progeny of Medicean.

He retires from stud duty as the sire of 80 stakes performers, including 24 Group and 20 Listed winners, with a winners-to-runners strike rate of 50 per cent and progeny earnings of over £8.4 million.

Medicean will now see out his retirement at Cheveley Park and his influence is set to continue at the stud through his son Dutch Art and his Group 1-winning grandson Garswood, whose first crop are currently yearlings.

Darley also have one of his grandsons on their roster, with Slade Power, whose first crop are also yearlings, having stood his third season at Kildangan Stud at a fee of €20,000.