Rangipo healthy

Group One winner Rangipo is free of the back issues that hindered his last campaign. ‘‘He kept going sore in his back and we couldn’t work out what it was,’’ trainer Tony Pike said.‘‘we checked his stifles and hocks and the usual places and couldn’t come up with anything. In the end, we found some arthritic changes in his spine so that was the reason. We’ve treated him and it’s made a huge difference.’’ Back to full health, the Gr.1 New Zealand Derby winner won an 950m jumpout on his home track on Monday to further his spring preparation. ‘‘He travelled well throughout and looked pretty happy doing it,’’ said Pike, who has yet to decide if Rangipo will have a lead-up run before the Gr.1 Tarzino Trophy at Hastings. ‘‘He could go there freshup or there is the opportunity to run in the Foxbridge Plate,’’ he said. ‘‘We’ll monitor his progress over the next few weeks and then decide.’’ Australian jockey Steven King has confirmed his retirement from race riding after a stellar career highlighted by the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups double on Let’s Elope. King, 47, has not ridden competitively since December but still rides quality horse flesh for fivetime Melbourne Cup-winning owner Lloyd Williams each morning at Macedon Lodge. Right from his early days when he teamed in 1991 with the Bart Cummings-trained Let’s Elope through to his most recent, I Am A Star who went close to winning the Thousand Guineas last spring, King always had a Group horse in the wings. Let’s Elope, King says, was an obvious highlight, but he won countless feature races, including the 2003 Cox Plate on Fields Of Omagh, and got to ride three- time Melbourne Cup winner Maybe Diva to two Group Two victories.