End of an era as Cheltenham legend Inglis Drever is retired

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The decision was made following a disappointing workout at the weekend by the 10-year-old, who notched up 17 wins from 35 starts, amassing almost £800,000 in prize money in the process.

Inglis Drever was pulled up after suffering a hock injury on his seasonal debut at Newbury last November, but Graham Wylie's gelding was given time to recover and a positive X-ray last week appeared to give hope of a fourth Cheltenham Festival victory.

But rather than wallowing in despair at the decision, Johnson breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm over the moon I've retired him," he said. "We put shoes on him the other day, we rode him out and he didn't even want the jockey to get on him.

"He was telling me he'd had enough, so he's gone into retirement. I think I've done the right thing for everybody.

"I didn't want to go to Cheltenham against younger horses and either be pulled up or get beat 20 lengths - that wasn't for me."

Inglis Drever made history at the Festival last March when he became the first horse to win the World Hurdle three times and Wylie credits the horse with getting him seriously involved in racing.

He said: "We decided on Saturday that he wasn't interested any more. At the end of the day, he has won three World Hurdles and has been one of the greatest horses.

"But more than any, Inglis Drever was the horse who got me interested in racing.

"Howard says to let him chill out and he'll have a box next to one of our broodmares. I'm sure he'll have a long and happy retirement."