'He's just a show-off - everyone is completely in awe of him and he's like a king in their eyes'

Not many horses resonate as much with the public as Sprinter Sacre, and not a lot has changed on that front nine years on from his final victory in the Celebration Chase.

The nine-time Grade 1 winner, now a 19-year-old, has spent his retirement with Vicki Roberts, who said: "He's very well. I think he enjoys retirement; he's settled, he's muddy, he's happy.

"We've kept him to much the same routine: breakfast, mucked out, ridden, out in the paddock, in at night. Come the summer it will change – he'll go out for a holiday twenty four seven. If the flies are bad, he'll get treated like a king and come in during the day out of the flies and go out at night. He's just generally spoilt, as he deserves to be."

Sprinter Sacre was paraded alongside Altior at Newbury on Game Spirit Chase day in February and also took pride of place at the Lambourn Open Day, where his fan club showed up in full force.

"He loved it, he loves parading – he's just a show-off," Roberts added. "Everyone is just completely in awe of him. I genuinely just think he's like a king in their eyes.

"The public's response to him is just unbelievable. His story is just one that resonates with the racing public. Even when we first get there and we take him into the stable, and Nicky sees him, you can see he just adores the horse.

"Because I'm with him day in and day out, I probably don't appreciate him as much as I should, but when you take him somewhere like that and you see people's reaction, it's just completely different."

Sprinter Sacre swept all before him in a flawless campaign in 2012-13, winning five Grade 1s, but problems with his heart were diagnosed later that year.

He was pulled up at Kempton in December 2013 and his three efforts after a 13-month layoff suggested he was not the horse he once was, but he proved all the sceptics wrong when roaring back to form to land a memorable second Queen Mother Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival in 2016.

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