Four-time Group 1 winner Paddington has been retired to stud and will stand at Coolmore. He will not take up his anticipated engagement at the Breeders' Cup due to an elevated temperature and a respiratory infection.
Winner of a Curragh maiden as a juvenile, Paddington made a meteoric rise to fame during his three-year-old campaign, having started the season with a victory in a handicap at Naas. The son of Siyouni made an effortless transition into Black-Type company when taking the Listed Tetrarch Stakes at the Curragh over a mile and followed up with a Classic victory over the same course and distance in the Irish 2000 Guineas a month later.
It was the clash of the Guineas winners in the St James's Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot and Paddington effortlessly powered away from Newmarket hero Chaldean before coming out on top in a battle with Emily Upjohn for the Group 1 Eclipse Stakes at Sandown Park, on his first attempt over twelve furlongs.
Paddington returned to a mile when defeating a high-class field at a very wet Glorious Goodwood in the Group 1 Sussex Stakes, completing the same treble as Giant's Causeway in 2000. Although defeated in his two subsequent runs in the Group 1 Juddmonte International and Group 1 QEII Stakes, Paddington retires to stud as a unique prospect for breeders - a son of Siyouni fast enough to win at the top level over a mile with the stamina to defeat one of the best middle-distance performers in Emily Upjohn over twelve furlongs.
"To do what he did takes a very special horse," said his trainer Aidan O'Brien, in a statement on Coolmore's website.
"In terms of his attitude and determination, he was very similar to Giant's Causeway, but Paddington was a much quicker horse. He had great tactical speed but could quicken off it. He's an unbelievable specimen who stands over an incredible amount of ground.
"He got physically stronger and heavier from race to race which is a very unusual thing in a thoroughbred."
Co-trainer of Emily Upjohn, John Gosden, was also keen to praise the colt: "He's a gorgeous horse, very good-looking, very laid back.
"A lovely horse and a proper stallion prospect."
Paddington's 2024 fee will be announced at a later date.
