Exosphere, one of the most brilliant horses to carry the famous Godolphin royal blue silks, has been retired from racing.
He is set to join the Darley roster and will commence his stud career at Kelvinside, NSW, in the forthcoming Australian breeding season later this year.
John O'Shea, who trained the son of Lonhro to win five of his 10 starts, described Exosphere as "a magnificent individual, with enormous natural talent."
The colt was impressive in winning the G2 Skyline Stakes at Warwick Farm as a two-year-old, but it was in the Spring of his three-year-old season that he gave the best examples of his sheer class and sprinting prowess, notching a hat-trick of impressive wins.
He captured the G2 Run To The Rose, over 1,200m at Rosehill, beating Press Statement, Holler and Japonisme, which served as a lead-up to his triumph in the fastest-ever G1 Golden Rose Stakes, over 1,400m at Rosehill.
He then capped it off with a fine win, again in record time, in the G2 Roman Consul Stakes, back over 1,200m, at Randwick.
Exosphere did not emerge well from his most recent run, in the G1 T J Smith Stakes on Day 1 of The Championships on 2nd April, and the decision was taken by O'Shea and Godolphin executives to retire him.
The colt, who has since been in light work at Osborne Park, thus misses Saturday's G1 All Aged Stakes at Randwick. He will be sent to Scone in the coming week. He retires as the highest-rated three-year-old of the year with a Timeform rating just one pound behind Winx.
Henry Plumptre, Godolphin's managing director, said: "Exosphere retires with an extraordinary race record. Because of his unusual size and bulk, he had training issues, but he managed to put together a string of outstanding performances.
"He is an exciting stallion of the future. No fee has yet been set, but we expect him to be popular," Plumptre said.
