Godolphin call time on career of dual Group 1 winner Hawkbill

Godolphin have announced that dual Group 1 winner Hawkbill, last seen finishing eighth of ten in the Northern Dancer Turf Stakes at Woodbine last month, has been retired.

The highly successful five-year-old had perhaps his finest hour when beating The Gurkha by half a length in the 2016 Eclipse, just a few weeks after landing the Tercentenary Stakes at Royal Ascot.

He belatedly recaptured that form at Meydan in the early months of this year, winning the Dubai City Of Gold Stakes and his second Group 1 in the Sheema Classic, in which he beat Poet's Word by three lengths.

Relive Hawkbill's win in the 2016 Eclipse

In a release on the Godolphin website, his trainer Charlie Appleby said: "He was a wonderful racehorse who will be remembered for bringing Moulton Paddocks to the international stage.

"He was an ambassador for Godolphin who gave everybody connected with him immense pleasure. He was hugely popular in the yard. Now he is set to enjoy a well-deserved retirement."

Hawkbill, who won the Princess of Wales's Stakes under James Doyle but enjoyed all other major success in partnership with William Buick, earned more than £3.5million in his 24-race career, which encompassed races in the UK, Ireland, Germany, France, Dubai and Canada.

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