Superstar Beautide retired

Star Tasmanian-owned and bred superstar pacer Beautide has been retired from harness racing as a result of a persistent leg injury.

The nine-year-old gelding, arguably the best pacer to come out of Tasmania in the history of the sport, has been battling a number of injuries that have kept him off the racetrack for just over a year.

Beautide was bred by the Rattray family at Longford who also raced the gelding and he is trained in NSW by eldest son James Rattray who said all attempts to get the horse back to the races had failed.

"He's had a lot of trouble with his tendons but this latest injury, a bruised sesamoid, is what has caused us to retire him," Rattray said.

"The horse seems well in himself but he's just not 100 per cent.

"Taking everything into account, including his age, we've decided to retire him.

Retiring a horse that probably still had the potential to win another Inter Dominion surprisingly sits comfortably with Rattray.

"The injury could have happened when he was a young horse and he never would have got to do what he did so we are thankful for what he has achieved."

The gelding began his career in Tasmania where he won on debut at Burnie and went on to win the Sweepstakes final at his fourth start before ending his two-year-old season with an unplaced effort in the Dandy Patch Stakes.

At three he won nine of his 10 starts including the prestigious Globe Derby Stakes. He notched seven wins at four including at Ascot Gold Cup and the following season he won eight times with the last in Winter Championship heat in NSW where he remained based for the balance of his racing career.

Beautide burst into the national spotlight when he won the 2013 Group 1 Miracle Mile at Menangle and he capped the season when he bettered that effort to win in the 2014 Inter Dominion four months later that earned him the title of Australian Horse of the Year.

But when he made it successive Inter Dominions a year later defeating a star-studded line-up at Menangle he rocketed to superstar status, eclipsing the feats of some of Tasmania's former greats including Halwes.

It is always difficult to compare past and present champions but Beautide's record of 49 wins from 81 starts that included six Group 1 victories for over $2 million in stakes has him clearly at the top of Tasmania's lifetime stake earners.

Last year the gelding was inducted into the Australian Harness Racing Hall of Fame.

Managing owner Barrie Rattray says Beautide will remain in NSW for the time being.

MAJOR RACES/HONOURS WON BY BEAUTIDE

2YO

Betfair Sweepstakes Final (Hobart) (Listed

3YO

Globe Derby Final (Launceston) (Group 3)

6YO

Inter Dominion Championship Final (Tabcorp Park, Menangle) (Group 1)

Miracle Mile (Tabcorp Park, Menangle) (Group 1)

Len Smith Mile (Tabcorp Park, Menangle) (Group 1)

Newcastle Mile (Tabcorp Park, Menangle) (Group 2)

Generation Firststrike Championship Final (Tabcorp Park, Menangle) (Group 3)

7YO

Inter Dominion Championship Final (Tabcorp Park, Menangle) (Group 1)

Coca Cola Amatil Sprint (Tabcorp Park, Menangle) (Group 1)

Inter Dominion Championship – Heat 2 (Tabcorp Park, Menangle) (Group 2)

Nick Robin Free For All (Tabcorp Park, Menangle) (Group 3)

Paul Fitzpatrick Free For All, Menangle (Group 3)

8YO

Coca Cola Amatil Sprint, Menangle (Group 1)

Trans-Tasman (Albion Park,Qld) (Group 1)

Qld Winter Cup (Albion Park, Qld) (Group 1)

Gold Coast Cup (Gold Coast, Qld) (Group 2)

Inter Dominion Pacing Championship Heat (Albion Park) (Group 3)

2014, 2015 Australian Harness Racing Horse of the Year

Inter Dominion and Australian Pacers Records – 3000m 1:55.5MS (02/03/2014)

Inter Dominion and Australian Pacers Records – 3000m 1:55.5MS (02/03/2014)

Peter Staples