Coolmore retires Pour Moi

This year’s G1 English Derby Pour Moi has been retired after being injured while preparing for the Arc de Triomphe.  The Coolmore colt suffered a severe over-reach to his near fore fetlock at Chantilly on Friday morning.

He will not race again and will retire to Coolmore for the 2012 breeding season.

Pour Moi (3c Montjeu – Gwynn by Darshaan) was trained by Andre Fabre and was a juvenile winner at Longchamp.  He resumed this year for a G2 victory in the Prix Greffulhe at Saint-Cloud before turning the clock back 35 years at Epsom Downs.

He became the first French based colt to win the English Derby since the Nelson Bunker-Hunt owned colt Empery scored with Lestor Piggott aboard in 1976.  He powered home to deny Coolmore’s Ballydoyle representative Treasure Beach (Galileo) and The Queen’s colt Carlton House (Street Cry).  

“Pour Moi has two accelerations, one to catch up and another to win,” Fabre said at Epsom.  “He has more speed than Peintre Celebre.”

Pour Moi is a three-quarter brother to G3 Saint-Cloud winner Gagnoa (Sadler’s Wells).  His sire Montjeu (Sadler’s Wells) shuttled to Windsor Park for five southern seasons and left Group 1 winners the calibre of (Lord) Tavistock, Nom Du Jeu, Roman Emperor and Wall Street.