Lankan Rupee Retired From Racing

Former Australian Horse of the Year Lankan Rupee (Aus) (Redoute's Choice {Aus}) has been retired from racing. The 8-year-old Mick Price trained gelding ran his final race when finishing sixth in the G2 Schillaci S. at Caulfield on Saturday and connections have decided to retire the five-time Group 1 winner rather than continue to operate at lower grades. “I was never, ever going to let him race if he didn't want to do it, so the time is right,” Price told Racing.com on Sunday. “We've had him from a yearling and he's probably the best horse we've had. He's won five Group 1 races, A$4 million in prize money and everyone that comes into the stable wants a photo with him because he's got that big heart on his head and he's just such a lovely horse.” Lankan Rupee enjoyed a golden two month spell in 2014 when he landed a hat trick of top level sprint victories in the G1 Oakleigh Plate, the G1 Newmarket H. and the TJ Smith S. Those victories earned him the accolade of Australian racehorse of the year for 2013/14 and he added further elite success to his resume when winning the G1 Manikato S. and the G1 Black Caviar Lightning S. in Feb 2015, which would turn out to be his last victory. Lankan Rupee will not lack for stimulation in retirement as plans are already in place for the gelding to embark on a showjumping career, a discipline Price's wife Caroline and daughter Georgia are highly experienced in. “He'll go to Caroline and my 14-year-old daughter Georgia, who is an obsessive show jumper. I've got to speak to [owner] Mr. Yaseen but if he's happy, I think Georgia will take him and if he turns into a happy show jumper, it'll be great because he'll certainly have a good life. If not, we've had a quick discussion with Living Legends and they'd love him to be out there.” Having spent time on the sidelines through injury Lankan Rupee ultimately retires sound and with a race record of 29-11-4-5 and earnings of A$4,129,510.