Ascot Gold Cup winner Trawlerman has been ruled out of York and retired with immediate effect.
The champion stayer, who won over £2 million in prize-money, was entered in the Weatherbys Lonsdale Cup during next week’s Ebor Festival. But co-trainer John Gosden on Saturday revealed that the Godolphin-owned eight-year-old had picked up a leg injury after running in the Goodwood Cup and the decision had been made to call time on his career.
Trawlerman won 11 of his 25 races, four times under William Buick and three for Frankie Dettori, including the 2025 Gold Cup and British Champions Long Distance Cup, one of two successes in the race, at Group 1 level. At York he won the Ebor Handicap and the Group 2 Lonsdale Cup.
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This year he had been off the track for eight months when he fought a thrilling battle with Scandinavia at Royal Ascot, eventually going down by a head.
He had started to wear special ski goggles in the parade ring and on the way to the start due to an eye problem which affected him in bright sunlight and had them fitted again before his latest start in which he finished eight and half lengths behind Scandinavia at Goodwood.
Gosden said: “Trawlerman is happy and well, but unfortunately he came out of the Goodwood Cup with a leg issue and is now being retired.
Trawlerman wearing ski goggles in the parade ring -Credit:John Walton/PA Wire
“At eight years old he has become part of the family here and won the Long Distance Cup twice and the Ascot Gold Cup in a very fast record time, which is unlikely to be equalled, as well as the Ebor.
“He has won over £2 million in prize-money and remained at the top of his game this year when second in the Ascot Gold Cup, beaten a head giving 1lb to the winner.“
Trawlerman: won the first of two Long Distance Cups under Frankie Dettori -Credit:PA
Trawlerman will remain in Newmarket where he will join another recently retired Godolphin star, Rebel’s Romance.
Gosden said: “He will be retired to Wood Ditton Stud, where Godolphin have wonderful facilities that he knows well having been there for holiday.
“For all of us at Clarehaven Stables, just like Stradivarius, Trawlerman has become a much-loved member of the family and there are a lot of people here who will miss him particularly Ben de Paiva, who looks after him and Richard Wilkinson, who rode him through most of his career.”
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