Sprinter Sacre is retired due to tendon injury

Sprinter Sacre was paraded in front of an adoring crowd at Cheltenham on Sunday – just two hours after his trainer Nicky Henderson announced the retirement of the dual Queen Mother Champion Chase hero.

Five of Sprinter Sacre’s victories came at the home of steeplechasing and it was poignant that exactly 12 months after his win in the Shloer Chase on this card that the 10-year-old returned to be given a fitting farewell from the track.

His racing days have been ended by a tendon injury as he was being prepared for next month’s Tingle Creek Chase at Sandown.

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Barry Geraghty riding Le Prezien clear of the last to win The Racing Post Arkle Trophy Trial Novices’ Chase at Cheltenham Racecourse on Sunday. Photograph: Alan Crowhurst/Getty Images

“He worked on Tuesday, everything was grand. We were just a bit worried on Wednesday night, he was a bit warm in one leg. He was going to work yesterday morning, when I looked at him again, I couldn’t work him,” Henderson said.

Sprinter Sacre won 18 of his 24 starts and amassed £1,136,000 in prizemoney.

In between his two Champion Chase victories, he was plagued with problems and was sidelined from December 2013 to January 2015 with a fibrillating heart when pulled up at Kempton.

Extraordinary

Henderson said: “It’s been a great part of our lives and an extraordinary journey. The sad thing is he has been doing everything right. We had three weeks before the Tingle Creek; we were going to work him on Saturday then take him to Newbury on Tuesday.

“He had that great charisma about him. One of the greatest days we had is when we took him to Ireland, which we always promised we would do.”

Joining the Henderson stable from France, he made a winning debut in an Ascot bumper in February 2010 and went novice hurdling the following campaign. After winning two of his first three starts, he was then third in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle in March 2011.

It was as a chaser he really made his mark, though. He created a big impression in his novice season which saw him defeat Cue Card in the Arkle Trophy in 2012.

Sprinter Sacre went on to win his first 10 races over fences, including the Champion Chase at the 2013 Cheltenham Festival. But his winning streak came to a halt when he was pulled up in the Desert Orchid Chase at Kempton.

He made a full recovery and returned to action in January 2015 when he was second to Dodging Bullets at Ascot.

Sprinter Sacre last season achieved what has been called “the impossible dream” when he reclaimed his two-mile crown with a convincing defeat of Un De Sceaux in March.

Swansong

He wound up the campaign with an authoritative victory in the Celebration Chase at Sandown in April in what turned out to be his swansong.

Barry Geraghty rode Sprinter Sacre 17 times, winning on 13 occasions, and said his old ally was “just unbelievable”.

Sprinter Sacre is to spend what Henderson hopes will be “a long and happy retirement” at a Shropshire stud farm.”

Just minutes after Sprinter Sacre paraded, the Henderson stable lost a star in Simonsig. The 10-year-old was put down after breaking a leg following a fall in the Shloer Chase. Guardian service