Sprinter Sacre, one of the best National Hunt horses of all time, has been retired from racing at the age of 10.
His trainer, Nicky Henderson, made the announcement yesterday (13 November) at Cheltenham’s Open Meeting.
“He worked on Tuesday and everything was grand. We were just a bit worried on Wednesday night – he was a bit warm in one leg. We have scanned the leg, and it gave us the news we dreaded,” explained Nicky.
After discussions with Sprinter Sacre’s owner, Caroline Mould, the decision was made to retire the gelding.
“I think knowing at his age, and where we’ve been, that you can’t come back for another session at 11 rising 12. I spoke to Caroline… and I said I’m afraid we’ve got to say the journey’s over,” said Nicky.
Sprinter Sacre won 18 of his 24 races, amassing more than £1.1m in prizemoney. Aside from being pulled up twice, he was never placed lower than third in his career.
Grade one wins included the Queen Mother Champion Chase, the Tingle Creek Chase, the Victor Chandler Chase, the Melling Chase and the Champion Chase at Punchestown.
He was pulled up at Kempton in December 2013, when it was discovered that Sprinter Sacre was suffering from an irregular heartbeat. He returned to the track in 2015 but it looked like his best days were over.
But then Sprinter Sacre hit another run of amazing form, culminating in his second Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase at the 2016 Festival, in front of an ecstatic Cheltenham crowd.
It’s not yet been confirmed whether Sprinter Sacre will have a future ridden career, but Henderson has suggested that the horse will take part in race parades in future.
“We’re going to miss him. It’s been a great journey. I’ve got one very very sad lad up there. Sarwah Mohammed lives with him day and night; the horse bites him all day and all night and he laughs about it,” said Nicky.
“Ability and charisma went together with him – very often they don’t. You go to the sales and buy a beautiful horse and nine times out of 10 they are rubbish – just very pretty. He was the epitome of the horse who looks the part, moves the part, and it has worked.”
It was a tough weekend for Henderson’s Seven Barrows yard, as not only did they have to call time on their star horse’s career, but they also lost the talented Simonsig, who broke his leg in a fall in the Shloer Chase – the race that had marked Sprinter Sacre’s return to form 12 months earlier.