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Three times Derby winner retires8th December 2009
Veteran jockey Mick Kinane, 50, has announced his retirement, ending a 34-year career in the saddle. He bows out on a high after a stunning 2009 saw him partner wonder horse Sea The Stars to six Group One wins.
His success with the John Oxx-trained colt included an unprecedented 2,000 Guineas-Derby-Arc treble.
Kinane said: "I feel fit and sharp enough to do any horse justice but I have the privilege of being able to end my career on an incredible high."
Born in County Tipperary, Ireland, the son of a leading National Hunt jockey, Kinane won the 2,000 Guineas four times, the Epsom Derby three times, the Oaks twice and the St Leger once.
He also picked up 11 Irish Classic winners, and France's Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe three times.
Henry Cecil, the trainer who provided him with his first Derby success in 1993 on Commander in Chief, said: "Michael Kinane, in my opinion, was a brilliant, top-class jockey, a gentleman and a great ambassador to racing.
"He rode quite a few Group One winners for me including the Derby. Thank you very much Michael. Racing will miss you."
Kinane said he was leaving the sport "with a huge sense of gratitude to all the great horses I have ridden". And he paid tribute to "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."
As well as riding hundreds of winners in Britain, Ireland and France, he also won the Melbourne Cup in 1993 with Vintage Crop and in the USA won three Breeders' Cup prizes. He picked up rides, and valuable winners, in some far-flung outposts including Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, Slovakia, the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
On Monday, Kinane was named jockey of the year at the 43rd Derby Awards, eight years after his previous victory, beating off competition from Ryan Moore, Richard Hills and Richard Hughes.
A champion apprentice in Ireland in 1978, Kinane had ridden his first winner aboard Muscari for boss Liam Browne at Leopardstown in 1975. He had 14 years as number one jockey to Dermot Weld from 1983 before he was retained by Aidan O'Brien from 1999 to 2003.
An Irish champion jockey on 13 occasions, he said his first Derby win had been a key moment in his career.
He got the leg-up at Epsom on the Khalid Abdullah-owned Commander In Chief with Pat Eddery on the owner's supposed first string Tenby, who started an odds-on favourite.
Kinane said: "Your first Epsom Derby success is very special so winning on Commander In Chief was a huge milestone."
That success in the showpiece summer classic was followed by Derby triumphs on Galileo in 2001, for O'Brien, before a third success earlier this year on the extraordinary Sea The Stars.
Mick Kinane celebrates victory on board Sea The Stars after the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in October