beautiful all the time. He was ver y beau-
tiful when he arrived from Ballydoyle,
but he is becoming more and more so.
Many people on La Route des Etalons
said he was the nicest they had seen.
We are so proud to have bred such a
horse—and now to have him back. And we
really believe in him: we sent him mares,
we bought him mares, we've worked for
him because we trust in him."
And his rise, of course, gave a seal of
destiny to Gibson's own homecoming.
She had been away since she was 13.
One phase of life after another kept
her away: after college, a marketing job
in Paris; marriage, a family. But while
the yearning for Montaigu had fallen
latent, it had never gone away.
"I was surrounded by horses all through
childhood," she reflects. "It took me a
long time to realise, but after 20 years
of thinking, I said: 'I can't let go.' It
wasn't automatic. I had a first life. But I
still came back ever y weekend. I was al-
ways like my grandfather: I'm not a city
girl at all, I need my boots in the mud.
