Half Yours’ sire St Jean dies after tragic paddock accident

Less than a month after Half Yours’ historic Melbourne Cup triumph, his sire St Jean has died.

The son of Teofilo was euthanised on Tuesday morning owing to injuries sustained in a paddock accident.

Brackley Park operator Grant Dwyer, who stood St Jean on behalf of a syndicate of owners since 2017, confirmed the news via a statement on Thursday.

“After covering a mare, Memory Lane, on Monday the 24th of November, St. Jean was returned to be fed in his paddock where he had lived happily and safely since the autumn of 2017,” Dwyer said.

“On the morning of 25th of November it was discovered, that for reasons unknown, St Jean had run into a fence post overnight, breaking it off at ground level and shattering his near-side front leg around the elbow region.

“Dr Duncan Pearce BVSc MVS MVSc attended to the stallion, X-Rays were taken, and we were advised that nothing could be done for the horse. The stallion was then humanely euthanised.”

St Jean’s death came just three weeks after his five-year-old son Half Yours became the first Victorian-bred winner of the Melbourne Cup in 52 years.

The victory completed a meteoric rise for the Tony and Calvin McEvoy-trained gelding, who 17 days earlier also won the Group 1 Caulfield Cup (2400m).

Half Yours is the standout product of St Jean, an Irish import who won six of 19 starts with the Group 3 City Of Auckland Cup (2400m) on New Year’s Day, 2017 his biggest win.

This year was St Jean’s ninth season at Brackley Park in Avenel, where the deeds of Half Yours had resulted in increased interest in the stallion who had his service fee increased from $3300 to $11,000.

“His death was very untimely as breeders were only starting to recognise what an incredible pedigree this stallion had,” Dwyer said.

“Bookings had started to pick up and he was due to cover a mare by Desert King that afternoon which would have given the same cross as Half Yours.

“He was due to cover five mares by Desert King this season and had bookings of 35 mares in total.

“I lament the fact that more breeders did not take the opportunity to breed to this stallion in the first few seasons at stud at an incredibly low price, when the opportunity was afforded to them.”

St Jean served just five mares last season and returned 13 live foals from 21 covers in the previous three seasons.

Half Yours, who is a member of St Jean’s third crop, is among 67 live foals, 22 of whom have raced for 12 individual winners.

- RAS NewsWire