Dodging Bullets team full of praise for their champion

Connections of Dodging Bullets have spoken in glowing terms about the nine-year-old, who was retired after being pulled up in the Grand Annual Chase at Cheltenham on Friday.

Bred by Frankie Dettori and trained by Andrew Oliver before he moved to Paul Nicholls, Dodging Bullets won ten of his 36 starts, his most memorable campaign coming in the 2014-15 season, when he landed three Grade 1s – the Tingle Creek, Clarence House Chase and Queen Mother Champion Chase.

Speaking at Kempton on Saturday, owner Martin Broughton said: “He has gone to his groom Lucy Sharp, who has loved him to bits all the way.

“He deserves a good life in retirement and has given us some wonderful days and great memories.”

Nicholls said: “We won’t forget him and would love to have some more like him!

“He won’t be far away as Lucy is only a couple of miles down the road. He won’t be short of things to do. There’s so much they can do these days, with the retraining of racehorses and showing classes and dressage.

“It was the right thing to retire him as we didn't want to see him just running down the field. He’s been a legend.”

The trainer added: “He had an amazing couple of years when going over fences, going to the pinnacle. He won some nice races as a novice and then he won the Tingle Creek, Clarence House and Champion Chase, and that was brilliant.

"He has been a great horse to all concerned.”