Sprinter Sacre's days on the run come to an end

Dual Cheltenham Festival hero Sprinter Sacre is to be retired due a persistent leg injury.

The trainer of the popular steeplechaser, Nicky Henderson, announced the news on Sunday morning at a specially convened press conference at Sandown to mark the end of the two-mile chasers time on the track.

Sprinter Sacre had been due to compete in the Tingle Creek Chase at the same racecourse next month, the same course where he made what is now known to be his final appearance last April in defeating Un De Sceaux by 15 lengths in the Celebration Chase. That win came on the back of a stunning comeback over the previous six months, which saw a victory in the Schloer Chase at Cheltenham inspire an unbeaten run that saw three more victories including his second Champion Chase win at Cheltenham.

“What happened last year was something that will never be repeated in my lifetime. In terms of emotion it took us all to the brink,” said Henderson.

"He will be here today and he looks as well as he's ever done. He's in staggeringly good form. The sad thing is that he is doing everything right.

"If you saw him now, you wouldn't know which leg it was, but there's a little bit of heat in his near-fore that has shown up on the scan. If he was seven, you'd say give him a year off and he'd be back. But he's not seven any more and this is the right thing to do.

"For a long time I protected See You Then and said he was our best horse but during Sprinter Sacre's best two years, he was unbeatable. Literally unbeatable.

"I'm sad for him because he's come here today thinking he's going to have a race and he's all excited and ready to show his public what he can do, but at least people will have the opportunity to see him again today."

Going into more detail about the injury Henderson added: "It all crept up yesterday. He worked on Tuesday and everything was grand.

"We were just a bit worried on Wednesday night as he was warm in one leg. I was going to work him yesterday but we couldn't work him.

"We can't ask him to come back, not at his age.

"He's in the same stable he has always spent his days in here (at Cheltenham) and you wouldn't know which leg I was talking about. In fact, if I was thinking about working this afternoon him I would.

"It (the injury) wouldn't hold up in the short term and when you can't go for the long term, you have to sadly bite the bullet."

Sprinter had an unbelievable race-winning ratio with 18 of his 24 starts ending in victories and amassing prize money of €1,318,000. Injury problems plagued the horse between the two Champion Chase titles after suffering from a fibrillating heart; however, and he had to be nursed back to health by Henderson.

Barry Geragthy rode Sprinter in 13 of the steeplechaser’s victories and also spoke of his partner in crime in glowing terms, saying: "He's something special and he is to be celebrated. I've never sat on a horse over fences like him - he was electric.

"The first day he won here (in the 2012 Arkle), just to see him sail away on the way to the last, I've never seen that before.

"He was just unbelievable."

Sprinter joined the Henderson stable from France he opened his career with a victory in the Ascot bumper in 2010, before going on to third in the Supreme Novices' Hurdle in March 2011. But in the chase Sprinter made his biggest impression, starting with victory over Cue Card in the 2012 Arkle Trophy. This started a winning run of 10 over fences including that first Champion Cup chase win in 2013.

The winning run ended in December of that year when he had to pull up in the Desert Orchid Chase at Kempton, a post-race examination revealed the heart problems which were to sideline him for just over two years. He returned to come second in the Clarence House Chase at Ascot in 2015 and again pulled up in the Champion Chase later that year, before making his stunning comeback at the end of 2015.