Silent Witness To Retire After Centenary Sprint Cup Silent Witness, the most successful horse in the history of Hong Kong racing, will be retired after his run in the Centenary Sprint Cup on Sunday, 4 February. Trainer Tony Cruz and owner Archie da Silva have made the decision in view of a degenerative condition in the seven-year-old´s hind joints. Silent Witness won 17 straight races from his debut in December 2002 until April 2005, a feat that attracted global attention as it took him beyond the ´unbreakable´ records set by his European ancestor, Ribot, and the American champions, Cigar and Citation. This haul included eight Gr.1 wins including two Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Sprint titles and two Champion Sprint Series grand slams during 2003/04 and 2004/05. His 18th success arrived in the Gr.1 Sprinters´ Stakes in Tokyo in October 2005. To date he has won over HK$62 million, a Hong Kong record. The Australian-bred son of El Moxie was twice voted Hong Kong´s Horse of the Year and three times he took the Champion Sprinter crown. Even more impressively, he was the world´s top ranked turf sprinter for three seasons. 'It will be an emotional saying goodbye to him after everything he has given us. All the memories will come flooding back, but it´s best that he retires now and with honour. Anything else just wouldn´t be right for a horse like him,' owner Archie da Silva said. 'All good things come to an end,' Tony Cruz said, although that doesn´t disguise the void that will be left in his stable by the horse he described as 'The King.''He made us all so proud: Archie and Betty, myself, Felix [Coetzee] his jockey, his stable lads, the riding boys - all my staff ? we all are very proud to have been associated with Silent Witness. In the end, time has caught up with him and just his sheer bodyweight means that we can´t put much more pressure on his legs. It will be very sad to see him go, but it has been a real privilege to have had him in our stable,' Cruz said in reflection. Mr Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, Chief Executive Officer of the Hong Kong Jockey Club, also paid tribute to retiring champion. 'Silent Witness did so much for Hong Kong racing and no horse has ever made such an impact. When he was in his prime, going all those races unbeaten, he generated unprecedented local and international interest. He was the one horse that everyone wanted to see and I will always remember the thousands of fans flying flags with his colours the day he won 17th straight race. It was historic. I have never seen a sprinter to dominate in the way he did - and do it all so easily. He was amazing,' he said. 'I would like to congratulate Archie and Betty da Silva for their success with such a unique horse. Also to Tony Cruz and his team for winning 18 races in Hong Kong and Japan and to Felix Coetzee who rode him so well.' Connections say Silent Witness will spend his retirement at 'Living Legends', the international home of rest for champion horses outside Melbourne, Australia.
