Over 500 acres In the Heart of Normandy

History

A STUD CREATED IN 1903

Haras de Montaigu was created in 1903 by Gabriel Guerlain, perfumer as well as a passionate breeder. Having started his activity on another property near Montfort L’Amaury, he explored the Orne region which he felt was a special area. He could thus purchase part of the Duke of Narbonne’s land at Montaigu. 

Upon the death of Gabriel in 1933, his son Jacques Guerlain inherited Haras de Montaigu.

In 1942, Claude Guerlain, one of Jacques’s sons, took over. He still owned fifteen mares and also bred for a few clients among which Sir Robin Mc Alpine for whom he enjoyed much success.

The best product bred by Claude Guerlain was the undoubtedly small RESCOUSSE, winner of the Prix de Diane G1 and 2nd in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe G1 for Baron de Rédé.

IN 1984, ALIETTE FORIEN TAKES UP THE TORCH

In 1984, Claude Guerlain who wanted to stand down handed the torch to his daughter Aliette Forien.

Aliette decided to transform and develop the activity to turn it into a real commercial operation. She was helped in this venture by her husband, bloodstock agent Gilles Forien (the man behind FIPS agency).               

The stud then took on quite a new dimension to welcome a growing number of client breeders who mostly aimed at yearling sales. 

Soon, Haras de Montaigu branched out into a stallion operation spearheaded by top stallion KENDOR, who sired champions and turned out to be a remarkable damsire.
The excellent NIKOS also left his mark on National Hunt breeding and paved the way for MARTALINE, leading jump sire since 2017.
Now, NO RISK AT ALL has taken over as he appears among the top 5 NH stallions in Europe.

Many Group- and even Group 1 winners have followed one another, among which Epsom Derby winner WINGS OF EAGLES, grandson of the family’s remarkable broodmare ROTINA and first French-bred winner of the legendary Epsom Derby G1 since champion SEA BIRD.

Many others were born and bred at MONTAIGU for various owners. Let us mention CORRE CAMINOS and RECITAL, sons of DIBENOISE, ASK FOR THE MOON, first offspring of LUNE ROUGE as well as MAJORIEN or AMERICA both out of GREEN ROSY.

THE NEXT GENERATIONS AT MONTAIGU

Fifth and sixth generations are rising. Sybille Gibson is now joint manager with Aliette while Erwan de Chambord, grandson of Aliette’s, arrived in 2023 to take care of the commercial side of Haras de Montaigu

The stud’s policy has always been ambitious and keeps striving for excellence: to keep investing in new mares, stallions and stallion shares, attractive nominations. This is the key to lasting success.