Seven-time Group One winner and successful sire Rock Of Gibraltar has died at the age of 23.
Trained by Aidan O'Brien, Rock Of Gibraltar's career highlights on the track included victory in the Dewhurst Stakes as a juvenile and both the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket and the Irish version at the Curragh during a superb Classic campaign which also included success in the St James's Palace and Sussex Stakes.
The son of Danehill, who is reported to have passed away due to heart failure, was previously the subject of a well-documented breeding-right row between part-owners Sir Alex Ferguson and John Magnier.
Paddy Fleming, manager at Castlehyde where the horse stood, said on the Coolmore website: "He was healthy and looking great right up to the end.
"He was a fantastic racehorse and a very good sire who will be missed by all the staff here."
Bred by the late Joe Crowley and Anne-Marie and Aidan O’Brien, Rock Of Gibraltar was the first horse ever to win seven consecutive top-class races in the northern hemisphere, breaking Mill Reef’s 30-year-old record in the process.
He rounded off his racing career by finishing a close second to Domedriver in that year’s Breeders’ Cup Mile at Arlington Park.
At stud he sired a total of 16 Group or Grade One winners including Coral-Eclipse victor Mount Nelson and Golden Jubilee and Haydock Sprint Cup hero Society Rock. Rock Of Gibraltar was also a notable broodmare sire, with two of his daughters producing two recent 2000 Guineas winner in Kameko and Poetic Flare.
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