Top miler Palace Pier, winner of back-to-back runnings of the Prix Jacques Le Marois, plus the St James’s Palace Stakes, Queen Anne Stakes and Lockinge Stakes, has been retired to stand at Dalham Hall Stud in Newmarket next year.

The son of Kingman retires as the winner of nine races and close to £1.8 million for owner Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed al Maktoum and John Gosden.

A 600,000gns yearling, Palace Pier was unbeaten in two starts at two. In the Covid-hit 2020 racing season, he reappeared as a three-year-old that June to land a handicap en route to the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot, where he put his acceleration to good use, kicking clear of Pinatubo and Wichita for a length score.

Still undefeated, he went on to make light of the testing conditions in Deauville, defeating top milers such as Alpine Star and Circus Maximus to win his first Prix Jacques les Marois.

He rounded off his three-year-old campaign with a third in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes on Champions’ Day, having lost a shoe early in the contest, after which he was assessed the world’s leading miler of 2020 on the International Classifications.

Palace Pier, pictured winning the St. James’s Palace Stakes, emulated his sire Kingman by winning the Prix Jacques Les Marois – Photo: Edward Whitaker

Returning at four, Palace Pier kicked off another productive season with an eight-length victory in the Sandown Mile. It was a win that set him up perfectly for the Lockinge Stakes, and once again he dominated, cruising clear for a length-and-a-half score from Lady Bowthorpe.

A second top-flight Royal Ascot success, this time in the Queen Anne Stakes, followed before a second crack at the Prix Jacques les Marois, in which he denied Classic hero Poetic Flare in a thriller. In the process, he became the first horse this century to win back-to-back renewals of the Deauville mile showpiece.

He signed off his career on Saturday with a gallant second in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes to Baaeed. Never out of the first three in 11 starts, Palace Pier is the highest-rated runner sired by Kingman and was bred by Highclere Stud and Floors Farming out of the Nayef mare Beach Frolic, who was sold for 2,200,000gns at the 2020 Tattersalls December Sales. This is the great Lagardere family of fellow Jacques Le Marois winner Miss Satamixa.

Sam Bullard, Director of Stallions, said: “Palace Pier is a wonderful horse to look at – and he’s even more impressive in full flight. He’s dominated the hugely competitive mile division for two seasons. He’s a very rare talent and we are privileged to be standing him.”

A stud fee for Palace Pier will be announced at a later date.