Coolmore has revealed that Aidan O’Brien’s six-times Group One winner St Nicholas Abbey was put down this afternoon

The horse, which had retired from racing after fracturing a pastern on the gallops at Ballydoyle last year, was euthanized on humane grounds after coming down with colic.

“Regretfully St Nicholas Abbey has lost his brave battle after suffering a colic this morning,” a statement explained this afternoon.

“Surgery revealed a severe strangulating colon torsion that was unviable and he had to be euthanized on humane grounds. This is extremely unfortunate as St Nicholas Abbey had been in terrific form, the laminitis was resolving very well and the fracture had healed better than expected.”

A son of the champion sire Montjeu, St Nicholas Abbey was champion two-year-old in 2009 when he crowned his season with a blistering display in the Racing Post Trophy at Doncaster.

He was a red-hot favourite for the 2000 Guineas the following year, but could only finish sixth behind Makfi, and was not seen again until the following April when beaten at the Curragh.

He returned to something like his juvenile form when an easy winner of the Ormonde Stakes at Chester and went on to further Group One glory in the Coronation Cup at Epsom, a race he would win on a further two occasions.

Arguably his two greatest successes came on the world stage, however.

He won the Breeders’ Cup Turf in 2011 from Sea Moon, a victory which made his jockey Joseph O’Brien the youngest winner in Breeders’ Cup history, and as recently as last March he landed the Dubai Sheema Classic at Meydan.

St Nicholas Abbey won over €5 million in prize money having won nine of his 21 races.