London (AFP) - Three-time Ascot Gold Cup winner Stradivarius has been retired to stud at the age of eight after taking longer than expected to recover from an injury.
The popular chestnut, trained by John and Thady Gosden, also landed four Goodwood Cups, three Yorkshire Cups and two Doncaster Cups.
Owned by Bjorn Nielsen, he will now join the National Stud as a stallion.
Stradivarius was a late absentee in the Lonsdale Cup at York last month due to a bruised foot.
The son of Sea The Stars retires with seven Group One victories, winning 20 of his 35 outings in total and earning almost £3.5million ($3.75 million) in prize money.
"He has been trotting and cantering but it has taken longer to get over the bruised foot than we thought," Nielsen told the Racing Post.
"We felt it would be unfair to ask him to come back again as a nine-year-old next season after his enforced time off."
He added: "It has been a fairytale from start to finish.Until this setback he had never been medicated and had never missed an engagement through injury."
