Warhorse Gailo Chop has been retired at 10 years of age but will move into another equestrian discipline after his brave fifth in Saturday’s Kingston Town Stakes.
A runner-up to Winx in the group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes in 2018, the three-time group 1 winner retires with nearly $4.5 million in prizemoney, having started his career as a two-year-old in Bordeaux in 2013.
His first race in Australia was in the 2015 Cox Plate – Winx’s first – where he ran eighth before claiming the Mackinnon Stakes for French trainer Antoine de Watrigant.
He returned to Australia in 2017 and joined Darren Weir’s stable after recovering from a tendon injury, winning a Caulfield Stakes in that spring, before a career-best campaign in the autumn of 2018.
That preparation, he won a Carlyon Stakes and Peter Young Stakes, ran second to Harlem in the Australian Cup and won a Ranvet, before finishing fourth to Almandin in the Tancred and second to Winx in the Queen Elizabeth.
But another tendon injury, and the disqualification of Weir, saw Gailo Chop finish his days with Matthew Williams at Warrnambool.
“He’s been a terrific old horse and we’ve obviously only had him the last couple of years, but he’s had a couple of group 1 placings [for us], in the Underwood and in the Kingston Town last year,” Williams said.
“That Kingston Town last was a massive thrill. To travel to another state, it’s a big deal, and half way up the straight he looked like he was going to hold them off until that mare Kay Cee came out of the pack.”
In last month’s Railway Stakes he finished 22 lengths last, but Williams said he knew the old boy had one more race in him.
He goes out with something left in the tank after he picked up $20,000 finishing fifth to Truly Great in Saturday’s Kingston Town.
“He pulled up so well [out of the Railway], we knew he pretty much got to the half mile and the tempo was that strong and he looked after himself,” Williams said.
“You wouldn’t blame him for that at his age and he came through it so well there was never any doubt to be not having a crack at the Kingston Town. That was the race he was sent over for and if nothing went right in the Railway.
“He’s done a good job to still be going at that age, having done a few tendons and the rest of it.
“He got a nice run, tempo suited him a lot better. He gave a kick there at the top of the straight just before they straightened up and put a length on them, and I thought, ‘Oh, look out’, but at 10 years of age he probably didn’t have that killer punch in him.”
His career also took him to group 1s in the Belmont Derby in New York – where he ran fourth to Cox Plate winner Adelaide – Royal Ascot and Meydan in the United Arab Emirates, but OTI Racing director Terry Henderson said another competitive equestrian discipline awaited the gelding.
“Suffice to say he’ll be going into an environment which will give him a fair bit of prominence going forward,” Henderson, who was unable to give more details, said.
“It will still be in competition.
“It’s great when you can retire a horse after seven-and-a-half years on the track and you’re very comfortable that he’s going out a sound horse who really still likes to be amongst it.
“He’s been a great horse.”
CREDIT: Damien Ractliffe at The Age