Ten-time Irish champion jockey Mick Kinane announced his retirement from the
saddle Tuesday following a career that spanned 34 years.
“I have decided this is the right time to retire from race-riding,” Kinane
said in a statement. “At 50 I still feel fit and sharp enough to do any horse
justice but, after the season I have just had in partnership with Sea the Stars,
I have the privilege of being able to end my career as a jockey on an incredible
high and that’s what I want to do.
“I leave with a huge sense of gratitude to all the great horses I have
ridden, all the great trainers whose genius developed those champions and
everybody else in racing, from the stable lads to the owners, who have made me
deeply thankful for my involvement in the game.
“Teamwork is the key to success in racing and I have been blessed with some
of the best alliances a jockey could have.”
Kinane rode the winners of nearly 1,500 races worldwide and partnered many of
the leading stars of the European turf during his long career. Best among these,
according to Kinane, was Sea the Stars, who raced into the history books this
year with victories in the Two Thousand Guineas (Eng-G1), Epsom Derby (Eng-G1)
and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Fr-G1), becoming the first horse ever to sweep
that treble in the same season. The superstar colt also won the Eclipse S.
(Eng-G1), Juddmonte International (Eng-G1) and Irish Champion S. (Ire-G1) during
the course of his unbeaten campaign.
“Michael Kinane was just the complete professional in every way,” said John
Oxx, the trainer of Sea the Stars. “Not only was he a top jockey with great
skill and determination, but he always conducted himself perfectly. He had a
great work ethic and he never let anybody down.”
“You couldn’t have predicted it or planned it, but it has been great for him
to have had the best horse he ever rode in the final year of his career. It’s
the sort of end that he deserves.”
Riding his first winner at Leopardstown in 1975, Kinane became champion
apprentice in his native land in 1978. His first job as a stable jockey was with
Michael Kauntze in the early 1980s and his first big break came when he joined
forces with Dermot Weld in 1984. He stayed with the Rosewell House trainer until
1999 when he was appointed Aidan O’Brien’s number one at Ballydoyle and has been
with Oxx since 2004.
In addition to Sea the Stars, Kinane also guided such standouts as Montjeu
(Ire), Galileo (Ire), George Washington (Ire), Rock of Gibraltar (Ire) and Yeats
(Ire) to major wins.
Kinane won the Epsom Derby three times, with Sea the Stars, Galileo (2001)
and Commander in Chief (1993). His three Arc wins came at 10-year intervals,
with Carroll House (1989), Montjeu (1999) and Sea the Stars (2009).
Kinane made a significant impact on the international racing season, winning
a Belmont S. (G1) with Go and Go (Ire) in 1990, a Melbourne Cup (Aus-G1) with
Vintage Crop in 1993 and a Japan Cup (Jpn-G1) with Pilsudski (Ire) in 1997.
“He was a world-class rider and a wonderful stable jockey in his 15 years
with me, but he was much more than that,” said Weld, who trained Go and Go and
Vintage Crop. “He was a highly intelligent individual who would have been a
success in any walk of life.”
His
other major wins in the United States include the 2001 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile
(G1) with Johannesburg, the 2002-03 Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1) with High Chaparral
(Ire) and 2000 Secretariat S. (G1) with Ciro.
The veteran was a 10-time classic winner in Britain and reached the winner’s
circle in 12 Irish classics.
Kinane’s final winner came in the familiar yellow and purple silks of the
Tsui family, the owners of Sea the Stars, when he rode the two-year-old Nebula
Storm (Galileo [Ire]) to victory at Leopardstown November 5.