Twenty fifteen Ebor-winner, Litigant, has been retired by connections at the age of nine.
His trainer, Lambourn-based Joseph Tuite, had been struggling to get the son of Sinndar back to the racecourse this season. His last run came in mid-November when he finished down the field in a Listed race at Lyon Parilly.
“We’ve decided to call it a day with him. We’ve been struggling to get him right after he tweaked an old injury and hopefully he’ll now have a long and happy retirement,” said Tuite.
“We had two magic days with him at York and Doncaster. The day he won the Ebor was incredible and I think that was the day he showed how good he was.
“I think those few months between York and Doncaster was when I had him at his best. I remember going into the November Handicap, George Baker had a huge amount of confidence in the horse.”
A fragile individual, despite only visiting the racecourse 13 times during a five-year period, he won on seven of those occasions.
He began his career in France with Andre Fabre and after just three runs was sent to fellow Lambourn trainer Seamus Durack. Tuite took the reigns in May 2015, just three months before Litigant gave him his biggest result to date.
His Ebor success in 2015 was highly commendable given that subsequent Irish St Leger-winner Wicklow Brave trailed him by a length and a half.
Although unable to be a force in the British Champions Long Distance Cup that October, he stormed away with the traditional curtain closer to the Flat season, the November Handicap, with regular rider George Baker in the saddle once more.
