FOLLOWING David Maxwell’s recent announcement of his retirement from race riding, Tattersalls Cheltenham will host the complete dispersal of the leading amateur jockey and owner’s racing interests after racing on Friday, October 24th at Cheltenham.

The dispersal will feature 17 lots, all to be offered in the Tattersalls Cheltenham sale ring.

Headlining the dispersal is El Cairos, the five-year-old son of No Risk At All, who finished an eye-catching fifth in the Weatherbys Champion Bumper at the Cheltenham Festival before going on to take second in a prestigious bumper at the Punchestown Festival.

Regarded as a leading novice hurdle prospect, he is already being mentioned as a potential Supreme Novices’ Hurdle contender at next year’s Cheltenham Festival and holds a Timeform bumper rating of 114.

Other standout lots include Queensbury Boy, a novice chaser in the making and officially rated 131 having won a Newbury novice hurdle last season before contesting the Grade 1 Champion Novice Hurdle at the Punchestown Festival won by Final Demand, and Just Ennemi, a dual Auteuil winner by Kamsin and an exciting prospect for the future.

Maxwell (47) has been forced to retire from the saddle due to an injury picked up at Aintree in April.

The Northern Irish businessman became a familiar sight on UK and French racecourses in recent years riding his own horses, fractured his back for a fourth time and admits his healing powers are not what they once were.

He rode 75 winners under rules in Britain, had a Grade 3 victory in France – and “for two seconds” thought he was going to win the 2024 Grand National on the Henry de Bromhead-trained Ain’t That A Shame.

“I’m afraid it’s just time,” he said. “I’ve been through all of the stages of grief this summer, denial, acceptance but it is just time I’m afraid.

“I actively cannot watch other people ride my horses. I just can’t do it. When I told Josh Moore I was having to pack it in he said the hardest part of retiring he found was other people riding horses that were his rides and he was still training them.

“I’ll keep a couple on in France, but the ones here are going to the sales and I’ll probably buy some more after I’ve gone cold turkey for a bit and then I’ll buy some young ones, I’d say.”