The triple Group One winner Hawk Wing was officially retired yesterday and was described by trainer by trainer Aidan O'Brien as "an exceptional colt".
The enigmatic son of Woodman will stand at stud at Coolmore in Ireland after an 11-race career that only once saw him out of the first two.
That was in his last start in Royal Ascot's Queen Anne Stakes where the horse picked up the ligament injury that has ended his racing career.
However, his penultimate start in the Lockinge at Newbury was perhaps his finest hour as he gained a BHB rating of 137, the highest for a miler since El Gran Senor in 1984.
A two-year-old top level success in the National Stakes was followed by an Eclipse win at three but Hawk Wing also finished runner-up in both the 2,000 Guineas and the Derby behind stable companions, Rock Of Gibraltar and High Chaparral respectively.
O'Brien said yesterday: "Hawk Wing has been a very brilliant horse. For a horse his size to break the track record at the Curragh as a two-year-old was unbelievable.
"Maybe I stretched his stamina too far trying to get him to stay the Derby trip and I think that might have left its toll on him for the rest of that season. But he still won an Eclipse and he was an exceptional colt."
