JENNY PITMAN yesterday paid tribute to her 1995 Aintree Grand National hero Royal Athlete as she announced the retirement of the 13-year-old who was due. to defend his crown on Saturday week.
The decision to call it a day with the Roselier gelding was taken after a meeting between Mrs Pitman, her son and assistant Mark, and owners Libby and Gary Johnson.
In a statement yesterday morning the trainer said: "Royal Athlete has been a great ambassador not only for his owners but for ourselves and he has been enjoyed over the years by a great number of National Hunt supporters.
Problems with the weather this winter had held up Royal Athlete's training schedule as the Weathercock House trainer explained. Due to the prolonged spells of frost and snow, and the fact that we are unable to train him on artificial surfaces, we feel that we would not be able to produce "Alfie" at Aintree in the condition that we would like.
"Whilst it leaves us with a feeling of sadness to bring his racing career to an end, we know that this is the right decision as the welfare of our horses is always uppermost in our minds.
"Royal Athlete is to remain at Weathercock House and will be very happy to receive all the polos and carrots that our visitors are likely to bring to the open day on Good Friday.
Mark Pitman, who was in his first full season as assistant to his mother when Royal Athlete sprang a 40 to 1 shock with his seven-length defeat of Party Politics, added: "We all have mixed emotions about his retirement. Sad because we'll miss him on the racecourse, but happy that he is retiring in one piece.
"We've had great fun with him. The highlight was of course his win at Aintree last year, but don't forget he was third in a Gold Cup and was the top staying novice of his year, winning six out of eight, including the Reynoldstown at Ascot and victories at Aintree and Ayr.
The decision to retire Royal Athlete has left Jason Titley on the lookout for a ride in next week's event. The jockey resurrected his career with a seven-length defeat of Party Politics at Aintree, after a promising career in his native Ireland had dipped dramatically.
The jockeys agent Graham James said yesterday: "It is all a bit up in the air at the moment. Sadly Monsieur Le Cure is no longer with us, and now Royal Athlete is not running.
Titley added. "Things are cutting up and cutting up. Son Of War would be a great ride to jump round, but Francis Woods will probably ride him, and Lo Stregone has a good chance but either Charlie (Swan) or Jamie Osborne will probably ride him."
