Classy mare Free Wind retired after sustaining an injury when leaving the stalls at Glorious Goodwood

Classy mare Free Wind has been retired to the broodmare band of owner George Strawbridge after injuring herself at the start at Goodwood this month.

The six-year-old was sent off favourite for the Group 2 Lillie Langtry Stakes on August 3 but missed the break badly and could only bring up the rear in the eight-runner contest won by Term Of Endearment.

A winner of six of her 15 starts, Free Wind was found to have injured herself as the stalls opened at Goodwood and the decision has been taken by trainers John and Thady Gosden to call a halt to her racing career.

John Gosden said: “Unfortunately Free Wind banged herself leaving the stalls at Goodwood and won't be able to recover in time to race again, so she's been retired.

"Very sportingly, Mr Strawbridge kept her in training to try to win a Group 1 and she went closest when very narrowly beaten in the Yorkshire Oaks last year. As a daughter of Galileo I'm sure she'll be a huge asset to the owner's breeding operation."

Warm Heart (far side) just gets the better of Free Wind in the photo-finish to the Yorkshire Oaks in 2023

Once raced as a juvenile, Free Wind burst on to the scene when winning four of her five starts as a three-year-old in 2021, including the Group 2 Park Hill Stakes at Doncaster and Group 3 Prix Minerve at Deauville.

She made only one appearance at four when winning the Group 2 Lancashire Oaks and the following year landed the Group 2 Middleton Stakes at York before posting a host of placed efforts, including that narrow defeat to Warm Heart in an epic conclusion to the Group 1 Yorkshire Oaks.

Free Wind, who was purchased as a yearling by Blandford Bloodstock for 325,000gns at Tattersalls in 2019, chased home Bluestocking when attempting back-to-back wins in the Middleton this season before the episode at Goodwood which ended her racing career.

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