Rip Van Winkle retired

Triple Group 1 winner Rip Van Winkle has been retired to Coolmore Stud after what trainer Aiden O'Brien told Racing Post is "a very slight setback."

O'Brien apparently did not detail the colt's issue but said that "it would have meant forcing him to get him to Churchill Downs" for the Breeders' Cup, where Rip Van Winkle was nominated for both the Breeders' Cup Mile and the Classic.

A 4-year-old by Galileo, he will now join his sire at Coolmore.

Sue Magnier, Michael Tabor, and Derrick Smith campaigned Rip Van Winkle. A son of stakes-placed Looking Back, by Stravinsky, he was an English and Irish champion last year after winning the Group 1 Sussex Stakes and Queen Elizabeth II Stakes in England. This year he captured the Group 1 Juddmonte International.

He also was second in four other Group 1's: the 2009 Eclipse Stakes and the 2010 Sussex, Irish Champion, and Queen Elizabeth II Stakes.

Rip Van Winkle earned $1,733,672 from 5 wins in 14 starts, as well as four second-place finishes.
Triple Group 1 winner Rip Van Winkle has been retired to Coolmore Stud after what trainer Aiden O'Brien told Racing Post is "a very slight setback."

O'Brien apparently did not detail the colt's issue but said that "it would have meant forcing him to get him to Churchill Downs" for the Breeders' Cup, where Rip Van Winkle was nominated for both the Breeders' Cup Mile and the Classic.

A 4-year-old by Galileo, he will now join his sire at Coolmore.

Sue Magnier, Michael Tabor, and Derrick Smith campaigned Rip Van Winkle. A son of stakes-placed Looking Back, by Stravinsky, he was an English and Irish champion last year after winning the Group 1 Juddmonte International Stakes, Sussex Stakes, and Queen Elizabeth II Stakes in England. He also was second in three other Group 1s: the 2009 Coral Eclipse Stakes and the 2010 Sussex and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

Rip Van Winkle earned $1,916,781 from 5 wins in 14 starts, as well as four second-place finishes.