Le Havre

Le Havre (4 February 2006 – 3 March 2022) was an Irish-bred, French-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. Bred in Ireland by his French-based breeders he was bought for €100,000 as a yearling and trained in the South-West of France by Jean-Claude Rouget. As a two-year-old, he showed promise in winning his first two races but finished unplaced when favourite for the Critérium International. He began his second season with an upset win over the favoured Naaqoos in the Prix Djebel and then finished second in the Poule d'Essai des Poulains before recording his biggest win in the Prix du Jockey Club. In the latter race, he sustained serious injuries which led to his retirement shortly afterwards. As a breeding stallion, he made an immediate impact, siring several major winners. Background Le Havre was a brown or black horse with a white coronet on his left hind foot, bred in Ireland by the Team Hogdala. The Hogdala team, based at the Haras de Coulonces is made up of Jan and Maja Sundstrom and their daughter Anna Drion: he was described by Drion as a "beautiful" foal. Le Havre was sired by Noverre, a top-class miler who won the Sussex Stakes in 2001 and finished second or third in ten other Group One races. As a breeding stallion, his other good winners included Music Show (winner of the Falmouth Stakes), I'm A Dreamer (Beverly D. Stakes), Miss Lucifer (Challenge Stakes), Summit Surge (York Stakes) and Enora (Preis der Diana). Le Havre's dam, the German mare Marie Rheinberg, was an unraced half-sister to the leading racehorse and sire Polar Falcon. As a descendant of the broodmare Barley Corn, Marie Rheinberg was distantly related to the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Sassafras. As a yearling, Le Havre was consigned by the Haras de Coulonces to the Arqana sale at Deauville in August 2007, where he was bought for €100,000 by the French trainer Jean-Claude Rouget acting on behalf of Gerard Augustin-Normand. Augustin-Normand later said that the colt "winked at him from the sales ring" and named him after his home town. During his racing career the colt was trained by Rouget at his stable near Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, and was ridden in all but one of his races by Christophe Lemaire. Racing career