THE career of the Aidan O’Brien-trained Mendelssohn ended not with a bang but a whimper, as he came fourth when favourite for the Cigar Mile Handicap at Aqueduct at the weekend.

It was not a bad effort, or at least not as bad as his last-of-20 in the Kentucky Derby in May, and he was beaten just three and a quarter lengths. But it was a long way from what the superbly-bred colt promised when winning the UAE Derby at Meydan in March by a monstrous margin and in track-record-busting time.