“IT is with great appreciation I announce that the decision to retire Lonhro from covering duties has been confirmed,” Vin Cox, Godolphin Australia’s managing director, said on Thursday.

With those words he marked the end of an era for the Australian breeding industry with the decision to retire the stallion from active duty. The 24-year-old will remain at Kelvinside Stud in the Hunter Valley, not far from where he was born at Woodlands Stud.

Cox added: “Most importantly, Lonhro retires from the Darley roster sound, happy, healthy. It’s important to us that the horse retires on his terms, and to all who have supported Lonhro throughout his career, we thank you enormously.”

A striking black colt born a fortnight before Christmas in 1998, Lonhro is a son of Octagonal (Zabeel), and the seventh foal of Shadea, a daughter of Straight Strike (Mr Prospector). Suzanne Philcox, well known for naming Godolphin Australia’s horses, was with Jack and Bob Ingham’s Woodlands Stud at the time. She revealed that if it was not for the intervention of the Australian Stud Book, one of racing’s most popular horses may have been called Tiny.

“Lonhro’s foaling sheet described him as ‘tiny but perfect’,” Philcox told Racenet’s Clinton Payne. “At the time I was reading a magazine called Private Eye which had stories about a businessman called Tiny Rowland and he was described as ‘tiny but perfect’. I tried to get ‘Tiny’ and ‘Rowland’ for the colt, but they weren’t available.

“Tiny Rowland was the CEO of the London Rhodesia Mining Company, so I used his company’s stock exchange code LONRHO and made a deliberate mistake with the spelling.”

He’s off

A glittering 35-race career followed and Lonhro won 26 races, 11 Group 1 races, and all but two of his victories were at group level. He captured the Caulfield Guineas, the Caulfield Stakes twice, the Mackinnon Stakes, Chipping Norton Stakes, George Ryder Stakes twice, Queen Elizabeth Stakes, CF Orr Stakes, and the George Main Stakes.

However, arguably his most stunning performance came in the 2004 Group 1 Australian Cup over 10 furlongs at Flemington where he was pocketed until the final furlong, but still managed to get up to beat Delzao and Elvstroem.

Lonhro amassed a staggering $5,790,510 and was retired to Woodlands Stud in 2004, with Sheikh Mohammed securing the Ingham bloodstock operations four years later.

Darley Australia’s head of stallions Alastair Pulford, who has steered the stallion’s career for the past 15 seasons, commented: “What can you say about him that hasn’t already been said? From the time he was born he’s been the ultimate thoroughbred.

“He went on to be an amazing racehorse, the horse of the year, who then became champion sire, leading broodmare sire and now has sons at stud who will carry on his name.”

1,000th winner

Lonhro sired his 1,000th individual winner on March 11th, and his progeny earnings are more than A$147 million. He has 95 individual stakes winners of 191 blacktype races, and his best include Impending, Kementari, Pierro, Lyre, Aristia, Lindermann, Beaded, Bounding, Benfica, Denman, Exosphere, Mental and The Conglomerate.

Lonhro was champion sire in 2010-11, and he shuttled to the USA between 2012 and 2014. His sons Impending, Pierro, Denman, Encryption and Exosphere are sires in Australia. His influence as a broodmare sire is also remarkable, with his daughters producing 101 group-winning horses including So Si Bon (So You Think), Osborne Bulls (Street Cry), Barber (Exceed And Excel), Niedorp (Not A Single Doubt), Golden Mile (Astern), Trobriand (Kermadec) and Serene Majesty (Fastnet Rock).

Bringing the story right up to the minute, last weekend he sired the Group 1 Rosehill Guineas winner Lindermann, and he has six yearlings catalogued for the coming Inglis Easter Yearling Sale.