Top Irish jockey Kinane announces retirement
Source: Agencies |
December 9, 2009, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
IRISH jockey Mick Kinane, who rode Sea the Stars to an unprecedented six Group One wins this season, has retired at the top of his game after a hugely successful 34-year career in the saddle.
"I made the decision a little while ago. It was just a question of timing," Kinane said yesterday.
A 13-time champion jockey in Ireland, Kinane rode over 100 Group One winners, including four in the English 2,000 Guineas and three in the Epsom Derby.
He claimed the biggest races in Japan and Australia while Sea the Stars was his third success in the Prix De L'Arc de Triomphe, the richest horse race in Europe.
"At 50, I still feel fit and sharp enough to do any horse justice but, after the season I have just had in partnership with Sea the Stars, I have the privilege of being able to end my career as a jockey on an incredible high and that's what I want to do," Kinane said in a statement yesterday.
After scoring his first winner at Leopardstown in 1975, Kinane went on to be retained by the likes of leading trainers Dermot Weld, Aidan O'Brien and latterly John Oxx as he developed a reputation as a big race rider.
Kinane rode many of the stellar racehorses of his generation - Rock of Gibraltar, Galileo, Hawk Wing, Yeats - and was also on board Weld's Vintage Crop when in 1993 it became the first European horse to grab victory in the Melbourne Cup.
He rode Pilsudski to victory in the Japan Cup in 1997 and also savored success in the United States with victories in the Breeders, Cup Juvenile, Turf and the 1990 Belmont Stakes on board Go and Go, also for Weld.
But it was his partnership with Sea the Stars which will live longest in the memory, with record-breaking victories in 2009 in the English 2000 Guineas, Derby and the Arc in Paris in October.
"Sea the Stars was undoubtedly the most complete package you could ask for in a racehorse," Kinane said about his favorite mount.
"I made the decision a little while ago. It was just a question of timing," Kinane said yesterday.
A 13-time champion jockey in Ireland, Kinane rode over 100 Group One winners, including four in the English 2,000 Guineas and three in the Epsom Derby.
He claimed the biggest races in Japan and Australia while Sea the Stars was his third success in the Prix De L'Arc de Triomphe, the richest horse race in Europe.
"At 50, I still feel fit and sharp enough to do any horse justice but, after the season I have just had in partnership with Sea the Stars, I have the privilege of being able to end my career as a jockey on an incredible high and that's what I want to do," Kinane said in a statement yesterday.
After scoring his first winner at Leopardstown in 1975, Kinane went on to be retained by the likes of leading trainers Dermot Weld, Aidan O'Brien and latterly John Oxx as he developed a reputation as a big race rider.
Kinane rode many of the stellar racehorses of his generation - Rock of Gibraltar, Galileo, Hawk Wing, Yeats - and was also on board Weld's Vintage Crop when in 1993 it became the first European horse to grab victory in the Melbourne Cup.
He rode Pilsudski to victory in the Japan Cup in 1997 and also savored success in the United States with victories in the Breeders, Cup Juvenile, Turf and the 1990 Belmont Stakes on board Go and Go, also for Weld.
But it was his partnership with Sea the Stars which will live longest in the memory, with record-breaking victories in 2009 in the English 2000 Guineas, Derby and the Arc in Paris in October.
"Sea the Stars was undoubtedly the most complete package you could ask for in a racehorse," Kinane said about his favorite mount.
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