AVILIUS RETIRED 05 Jul 2021 10:57
Godolphin announced on
Monday that their multiple Group 1 winner Avilus (GB) has been retired and will
join the Godolphin Lifetime Care.
In a statement on
Godolphion.com the career of Avilius was characterised by resilience, courage
and determination.
A horse of great promise
in France where he won two of his seven starts, Avilius became one of the stars
of his generation in Australia. He matured into a multiple Group 1 winner with
the versatility to win at the supreme level over distances ranging from 1,600m
to 2,400m.
Avilius left the stable
of his French trainer Andre Fabre in late 2017 at the end of a three-year-old
year in which he had been matching strides with horses of the calibre of the
four-time G1 winner Cracksman behind whom he finished second in the G2 Prix
Niel at Chantilly.
That was one of three
Stakes placings in France for the son of Pivotal who had won his maiden at his
second start and a Listed event at his third.
“Andre Fabre had
put his blood, sweat and tears into Avilius before he got to us, he had great
form behind Cracksman over a mile-and-a-half and now we’re starting to put our
own polish on him,” said his new trainer James Cummings.
The local conditions
clearly suited Avilius who went on to win his first four starts on the bounce,
among them the G3 Bart Cummings and one which earned its winner an automatic
entry into the 2018 G1 Melbourne Cup.
In preparation for the
Melbourne Cup, Avilius stepped out in the G1 WS Cox Plate where he ran
respectably behind the Champion mare Winx.It was the form that Avilius
displayed at his next preparation that confirmed his status as a superior
racehorse.
He returned the following
February in the G3 Carlyon Cup at Caulfield which was to become the first of
four wins for the campaign that included victories on successive weekends in
the Ranvet Stakes and the Tancred Stakes, both at G1 level.
