Globetrotting star Lord North has been retired from racing at the age of eight after a lucrative career which yielded more than £6.4 million in prize-money and ten wins, including four at Group 1 level.
John Gosden hailed Lord North as a horse who had ‘a lot of character’, as the son of Dubawi ends his racing career best known for three consecutive victories in the Dubai Turf on World Cup night at Meydan.
Lord North has retired (Pic – Chase Liebenberg)
The Racing Post reports that Lord North was last seen at Royal Ascot in June when eighth behind Auguste Rodin in the Group 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes, a race in which he made his Group 1 breakthrough in 2020.
Gosden, who trained Lord North with son Thady since the start of 2022, said: “Lord North has been retired to join Godolphin Rehoming after an illustrious career. He retires a sound horse, but the years have caught up with him.
“His record speaks for itself having won the Cambridgeshire as a three-year-old in 2019 before winning the first of his four Group 1s in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot the following year.
“He then landed the first of his remarkable three consecutive wins in the Group 1 Dubai Turf at Meydan in 2021 through to 2023, and managed to win over £6.4m in win and place prize-money in a career that spanned seven seasons.”
Owned by Sheikh Zayed bin Mohammed Racing, Lord North won ten of his 24 starts in a career that began with victory under Robert Havlin in a mile novice at Redcar in October 2018.
In 2020, Lord North achieved a career-high rating of 124 when winning at Royal Ascot from Addeybb, subsequently a multiple winner at the highest level. Later that year he made his sole appearance at the Breeders’ Cup, finishing fourth in the Turf.
The following March, Lord North registered the first of his three wins under Frankie Dettori in the $5m Dubai Turf when overcoming Vin De Garde before returning 12 months later to dead-heat with Panthalassa.
The hat-trick was completed when the pair overcame Danon Beluga last year and he was far from disgraced when finishing eighth in a bid to win it for a fourth time in March.
Lord North was a popular attraction at the Henry Cecil Open Weekend on Sunday when the Gosden yard was one of 24 stables to open their doors.
Gosden added: “He’s been a pleasure to train over the years and he’s a horse who has always had a lot of character. He’s provided his groom and rider Aldir Centuriao as well as head man PJ O’Gorman with a lot of pleasure over the years and they will be sad to see him go, as will all of us at Clarehaven Stables.
“He retires to a great location at Godolphin Rehoming at Wood Ditton, which he knows well having spent two holidays there already.”
