Five-time Group 1-winner, Solow, has been retired with connections not willing to take a risk with the seven-year-old.

The decision was taken by his trainer Freddie Head and owners the Wertheimer brothers, who felt although the gelding is perfectly well he is not quite sparkling.

A grey son of Singspiel, Solow had been recovering from a leg injury he sustained not long after his last racecourse appearance at Chantilly in March last year.

It was hoped that he could make a return at Royal Ascot next month in the Queen Anne Stakes, a race he won impressively in 2015.

“We just couldn’t get him back to where he was and didn’t want to risk injuring him again. He was too good to risk, so we’ve called it a day,” said Head.

“He won five Group Ones, picking one out is hard, maybe the Sussex Stakes at Goodwood or the Queen Anne at Royal Ascot. He was most impressive in Dubai, but that form probably wasn’t as strong.

“To do what he did in those six months, he was a real champion and he retires having won his last 10 races.”

Out of the Andre Fabre-trained mare High Maintenance, he first truly sprung to prominence in a Group 3 mile contest at Deauville in August 2014 with a five-length success.

After a half-length Group 2 win that October, he was then sent by Head to the Dubai Carnival the following March for his first taste of Group 1 action.

He duly romped away with the Dubai Turf leaving the Kevin Ryan-trained The Grey Gatsby trailing in his wake by four and a half-lengths.

He was too good to risk

His remaining four Group 1s came that year, beginning with the Prix d’Ispahan at the end of May and ending with victory in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes on Champions Day at Ascot in October.

For that superb 2015 season he was awarded the Cartier Older Horse of the Year award.

Solow will now enjoy a happy retirement at the Wertheimers’ Haras de Saint-Leonard in Normandy.