Stradivarius: Three-time Gold Cup winner retires

Stradivarius was denied a fifth victory in the Goodwood Cup by Kyprios in July

John and Thady Gosden’s three-time Gold Cup winner Stradivarius has been retired to stud.

The eight-year-old, who is owned by Bjorn Nielsen, has also won four Goodwood Cups, three Yorkshire Cups and two Doncaster Cups.

He was a late absentee in the Lonsdale Cup at York last month because of a bruised foot after taking longer than expected to recover.

The son of Sea The Stars retires having won seven Group One races.

He will now join the National Stud as a stallion after winning 20 of his 35 outings and earning nearly £3.5m 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.

“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.”