Retired as a result of injury received in Sussex Stakes--off to Coolmore
Canford bows out
(from
www.attheraces.com)
Richard Hannon has confirmed his stable star Canford Cliffs has been retired to stud.
The five-time Group One winner came off second best when meeting Frankel in the highly-anticipated 'Duel on the Downs' in the Sussex Stakes at Glorious Goodwood last week.
Connections have subsequently found the four-year-old to have suffered a minor injury but have decided to call time on his racing career for fear of the problem developing into something more serious.
"He has a bit of a shadow on the joint running into the pastern and that could turn into something nasty - it could turn into a fracture," said Hannon.
Canford Cliffs is set to stand at Coolmore Stud in Ireland in accordance with a deal that was finalised at the end of last season.
The agreement meant the powerful operation owned a share in the colt for his racecourse appearances in 2011 and it also secured his services as a stallion.
Hannon added: "He's a perfectly sound horse and I could very nearly go on training him, but under that light, I don't want to do the horse any damage as he's done us so proud.
"It's a terrible shame - it's heartbreaking, but I don't want to see him end up with a bad injury.
"If we carried on, we would have to give him box rest and with a big horse like him, he'd just get bigger and bigger and heavier and heavier. Doing that might just cause him a bad injury and that would break everybody's heart.
"He now goes off to stud sound. If anything happened to him, I couldn't forgive myself. He's been a fantastic horse for the yard. He's won five Group Ones - you can't do any more than that."
