King's Stand hero Bolshoi an absolute picture of health at 27

David Brown - who bred and raced Bolshoi together with his wife Trish - has fond racing memories of the star sprinter, who came with a wet sail to deny subsequent Nunthorpe winner Lochangel in the King's Stand Stakes of 1998.

The son of Royal Academy, who also landed the Group 2 Temple Stakes at Sandown, is now enjoying a blissful retirement at the age of 27 in the bucolic setting of Furnace Mill Stud near the Wyre Forest in Worcestershire, where he was born and raised.

"He's pensioned off on the farm now," says David Brown, who recently received the Andrew Devonshire Award at the TBA Annual Flat Awards for his contribution to the industry.

"He still thinks he's about five years old. He's loves the camera and looks absolutely brilliant. He doesn't do anything and nothing riles him. He has a bad back and limps about in the field, but when the picture came out we thought he looked as good as he did in training. He's amazing.

"He was a foal share with Coolmore and from Royal Academy's first crop. He didn't get to the sales as a yearling as he got a bang on a joint, which was unsightly.

"We spoke to Coolmore, to John Magnier and Paul Shanahan, and decided he would run in Trish's name, and that they'd have half shares.

"He didn't seem to try too hard as a two-year-old, which is why he ended up as a gelding, but it was wonderful the way he went on.

"John, when he won his handicaps, asked would Trish like his half-share, which was an incredibly generous gesture. When he won his two Group races, the first person to come and congratulate Trish was John."

Bolshoi ran a close second to Tamarisk in the Haydock Sprint Cup that same season, before embarking on an international campaign in which he was unlucky not to line up in the Nakayama Sprint.

Brown recalls: "He ran a great race at Haydock, Kieren [Fallon] reckoned he'd done the wrong thing, he was livid with himself, but we were delighted anyway.

"He would've had a great chance in the Nakayama Sprint but fractured his shin in his last piece of work.

"The Japanese were absolutely wonderful to him in the hospital. They sent him home with a great big rug that said 'Bolshoi, we love you', and wouldn't charge us a sixpence for his hospital bills. They were tremendous."

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