Last season's champion three-year-old, Almanzor, has been retired to stud.
The Jean-Claude Rouget-trained colt swept all before him during 2016, claiming victories in the French Derby, the Irish Champion Stakes and the Champion Stakes at Ascot.
However, his first appearance of 2017 did not go so smoothly, as he could only finish fifth in a Group Three at Deauville last Tuesday, and the decision has now been made to retire him with immediate effect.
Sylvain Vidal, racing manager for part-owner Gerard Augustin-Normand, said: “I spoke with all the team, and we have taken the decision to retire the horse. “It was not an easy decision to take, but everyone was in 100 per cent agreement that it was the right thing to do.”
Almanzor had been due to run in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at Chantilly in October, but Vidal conceded the four-year-old would have had no chance of winning that race.
He added: “The plan was to go to the Arc, but after his performance last week we could not have gone there expecting to win.”
