High-class jumps sire Dr Massini succumbs to colic aged 24

Dr Massini, the sire of talented jumpers such as Rocky Creek, Massini's Maguire and Sound Investment, has died at Dunraven Stud at the age of 24 after succumbing to colic.

"He was a wonderful horse," said Dunraven Stud owner David Brace. "It's a big loss. He wasn't the most fashionable and I will never understand why, as his temperament was superb.

"All the horses we bred from him and all the horses that other people have bred by him have had the most wonderful temperaments. He was the closest I've seen to Sadler's Wells - a complete stamp."

The stud owner added that the career of Massini's Maguire - winner of the Grade 1 Baring and Bingham Novices Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival - had been his own personal highlight of Dr Massini's stud career, that also saw him crowned champion point to point sire.

A talented but enigmatic sort during his racing career, the son of Sadler's Wells impressed enough in his first two starts to be installed as favourite for the 1996 Derby. However, he sustained an injury to his hock three days prior to the race in a stalls accident that prevented the Sir Michael Stoute trainee from lining up at Epsom.

He did, however, win the Magnolia Stakes on his four-year-old reappearance for the Freemason Lodge trainer before switching to the care of Aidan O'Brien at five.

Dr Massini retired to stud in 1999 and spent the first 11 years of his stallion career under the Coolmore banner at the Beeches Stud in Ireland, prior to his transfer to Brace's operation for the 2010 breeding season. He continued covering at the South Wales nursery up until his retirement from stud duties last year.