No retirement for Cowell veteran after Nottingham strike

Veteran sprinter Kingsgate Native has had his pipe and slippers put back in the sideboard down at Robert Cowell's yard at Six Mile Bottom near Newmarket after rolling back the years with a 20-1 win in a conditions race at Nottingham on Tuesday night.

After modest displays on his first two starts of the season, the 11-year-old was on the verge of retirement and "drinking in the last chance saloon" according to Cowell before heading to the Midlands for the 59th race of his career.

Cowell said of the triumph: "It was fantastic for all concerned what Kingsgate Native did at Nottingham and he certainly won't be getting his pipe and slippers just yet. It wasn't a great surprise he won as things had not gone right for him on his first two starts this year but he needed to do what we'd been seeing at home on the track or we would have been forced to draw stumps."