O’Leary hints at retirement for his Aintree hero
RULE THE WORLD will not defend his Grand National crown in 2017 after his owner Michael O’Leary indicated retirement beckons for the Aintree hero.
The nine-year-old has always been held in the highest regard by O’Leary — the Ryanair mogul — and his trainer Mouse Morris, which is why he was given such a grand name when they bought him for €90,000 (£73,000) in 2007. But two serious injuries — he cracked his pelvis twice — had prevented Rule The World from scaling the heights that were anticipated until he spectacularly showed what connections knew he could do when surging away from The Last Samuri to post a sixlength victory. One of the things that tends to get said by an owner or trainer in the post-race euphoria of a National triumph is how they aim to become the first horse since Red Rum in 1974 to record backto-back wins but O’Leary, sipping from a champagne flute, ruled that out.
Given the fitness issues Rule The World has endured, O’Leary — whose first attempt to win the Grand National in 2008 ended in tragedy when Hear The Echo died — has no intentions of running him at Aintree again. If he has his way, the 25th run of his career will be his last.
‘He isn’t a young horse,’ said O’Leary. ‘He has had multiple injuries and what you would hate to do now is risk him and lose him. He has won a Grand National — would you want to send him back here next year with 11st 8lbs on his back? I don’t think so.
‘Let’s enjoy this. Let’s take a week or a couple of weeks to enjoy the whole experience. He won’t run at the Punchestown Festival — clearly. I will see how he is in the summer and I will see what Mouse wants to do. But he isn’t quite good enough anymore to run in those graded races. I would lean in favour of retiring him during the summer. We will see how he goes then.’