Group I-winning stayer retired
One of Australia's toughest stayers in recent seasons has been retired and will not be among the initial nominations when the Melbourne spring feature entries are released next week.
Next Tuesday, nominations close for the Caulfield Cup, Cox Plate, Caulfield Guineasand Thousand Guineas but the Hawkes Racing-trained Niwot will be missing from the nominations for the $2.5 million Caulfield Cup.
"He'd done his job and the horse had no right to have been racing when he was after what he overcame," co-trainer Michael Hawkes said.
"He was a true warhorse."
The "true warhorse" description fits Niwot after it was thought his career was over back in the winter of 2009. The gelding by Galileo "shattered the back of a knee" in a paddock accident and his life was a 50/50 bet.
"Basically the vets and everyone else wrote him off and said he should be put down," Hawkes said. "
"It was a long road to get this horse back to full fitness and winning races again. It wasn't easy and it took a great team effort by a lot of people."
Niwot made his return to the races in February 2011. He won a 2000-metre handicap at Flemington in April before winning the Listed Andrew Ramsden Stakes (3200m) at Victorian headquarters in May.
He returned in the spring to win the Group III Lexus Stakes (2500m) before being the first southern hemisphere-bred galloper home when eighth three days later in the Group I Melbourne Cup.
"He was more an old school type of Australian stayer," Hawkes said. "The way the Melbourne Cup has gone didn't suit him. If he was racing 20 years ago, who knows he may have won the Melbourne Cup."
Niwot was back again in the autumn of 2012 for the crowning moment of his career when edging out the 2007 Melbourne Cup winner Efficient in the Group I Sydney Cup (3200m) at Randwick.
"It was a very special day," Hawkes said. "When you can get a horse back from the type of injury he suffered and win a Group I race it is unbelievably satisfying.
"He wasn't the best horse we trained but is a very special horse to the stable."
Niwot retired with nine wins from 38 starts with career earnings of $1,266,825.
The gelding recently started on the next chapter of his life where he is learning the equestrian trade.
Story: Clinton Payne RaceNet