Hall of fame place assured as we retire two time winner Ghadbbaan

After 22 races, two wins and a further 10 top four finishes, we have brought the curtain down on the career of star stayer Ghadbbaan. 

The chestnut eight year old has been a magnificent servant for us, across spells with Mark Walford and Sam England. 

Quite simply, he has been a legend for us, winning at Doncaster and Ripon and placing at York, Newmarket and Epsom amongst others, while also running live on ITV in the Sunday series. 

He gave Alex Garven her first ever win under rules and was a regular runner who was always competitive. 

He won twice for Team Walford, before Mark thought a change of scenery would do him good and he moved to Sam England, where he learned to swim and ran with credit when third at Wolverhampton in a crazy race, where he probably would have won if there had been another furlong to go. 

But at eight and with a falling mark, he was telling us that his racing days were coming to an end - so the decision was an easy one to make. 

Craig Talbot, Racing Manger, said: “You won’t find many better horses for just £5,000 and he has given his owners the best journey over the last two years. 

“I know we all have our favourite memories and we have been talking about them and reminiscing this week.

“My personal favourite was his win at Ripon, where he battled on so bravely up the rail under Phil Dennis.

“Finding a horse so sound and gutsy is tough going and we will never forget the ride we had with him - he ran at all the big tracks and never once let us down.

“As soon as he told Sam he had had enough we knew it was time to pull stumps and we will now find him a brilliant home for the future.”

Thank you, Ghadbbaan.