Group 1 winner runs his last race

Shadow Sax has run his last race, with connections calling time on the two-time Group 1 winner’s career.

The eight-year-old ran a disappointing sixth on Saturday night at Kilmore – his first start back from cardiac arrhythmia – with part-owner Pam Hockham making the call to retire him on Monday.

She said the horse’s ongoing health and injury issues had eventually led to the decision to pull up stumps.

“We had to bite the bullet,” she told thetrots.com.au.

“He’s done a wonderful job for us. He’s been unbelievable, really good.

“He’s had a lot of injuries, he’s been injury-plagued all of his life actually.

“He’s given us a lot of big thrills.”

Shadow Sax began his career with trainer Peter Tonkin and then moved into the care of Emma Stewart, who prepared him for both his Group 1 wins in the 2015 Vicbred Super Series 2YO Colts and Geldings Final and 2018 SA Pacing Cup.

He also captured a string of other cups, including those at Stawell, Geelong, Cranbourne and Horsham.

With a record of 23 victories from 42 career starts, he joined the Matthew Craven stable and had eight winless runs for the Ecklin South horseman.

The Shadow Play gelding finishes with a best winning mile rate of 1:52.5 – recorded when winning the Sokyola Sprint in 2018 – and career prizemoney of $558,833.

Craven is understood to have already found a new home for the horse, where he can enjoy retirement.