Injury forces Hawk Wing’s retirement
The announcement was made by the colt’s connections yesterday after scans on the knee ligament injury he suffered when beaten in the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot on his final outing.
He will now join the stallion team at Coolmore Stud.
Trainer Aidan O’Brien said: “He was an exceptionally natural horse. He was a brilliant worker and a natural athlete.
“I always considered him to be brilliant, and he came up against Rock Of Gibraltar and High Chaparral last year, who were two of the best horses in training.”
The news brings to an end a remarkable career that split the racing world down the middle, with his army of fans matched by his detractors.
The superb-looking son of Woodman beat the Curragh’s seven-furlong record in the 2001 National Stakes and looked set for a glittering career, but the fates did not look kindly on him.
He was drawn on the wrong side of the course in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket and was considered an unlucky loser after his late charge came up a neck short, with stablemate Rock Of Gibraltar grabbing the prize.
He was then beaten for stamina by another Ballydoyle ace, High Chaparral, in the Epsom Derby.
Hawk Wing finally won a Group One race as a three-year when he took a poor-quality Eclipse Stakes, but his colours were lowered when he was odds-on in both the Irish Champion Stakes and the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes before he disappointed in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
O’Brien and his stable jockey, Michael Kinane, never lost faith in the son of Woodman, and they were repaid in breathtaking style when Hawk Wing opened this season with a magnificent performance in the Group One Juddmonte Lockinge Stakes at Newbury in May.
Fired like a bullet from a gun by Kinane that day, Hawk Wing scorched up the straight to pulverise a high-class field headed by Where Or When, who finished 11 lengths behind in second.
That performance earned him a rating of 137, elevating him to the level of Arc winners Generous and Peintre Celebre and behind only the legendary Dancing Brave in recent times.
Dancing Brave was rated 141 after he won the 2000 Guineas, Eclipse, King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in 1986.
The Lockinge mark also made Hawk Wing the highest-rated miler since El Gran Senor achieved 138 in 1984.
The figure was arrived at after discussions between Irish Turf Club handicapper Garry O’Gorman and his BHB counterpart Dominic Gardiner-Hill.
Gardiner-Hill said at the time: “It’s a very difficult race about which to be certain.
“You can’t deny the fact that he was impressive, but you have a slight worry when possibly only one of opponents ran his race.
“Mathematically, it could be as good as anything we’ve seen and I think it would be wrong to crab the form.”
The handicappers were looking forward to Hawk Wing giving them more evidence by running again after his defeat at Royal Ascot, where he finished seventh behind Dubai Destination, but they are now left with a dilemma.
Gardiner-Hill has already warned that Hawk Wing’s rating would be in jeopardy if he did not reappear, as the mark could be downgraded by the International Classifications Committee at the end of the year.He told the Racing Post recently: “It would be disappointing if we didn’t see Hawk Wing again so he couldn’t come out and confirm the form, leaving us in the lurch.”
