Roger Attfield, the Canada-based trainer who is a member of both the U.S. and Canadian Racing Hall of Fames, has retired from training at the age of 86, according to an announcement distributed by Woodbine Racecourse in Ontario, Canada, on Wednesday. In a letter to clients, Attfield said that his physical condition no longer allowed him to evaluate his horses satisfactorily. Although he has distributed the horses in his care to other trainers, he said that he will remain an owner and breeder, continue to participate at sales, and serve as a director of the Ontario Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association. “All of my life I have always been a hands-on trainer and now at 86 I can no longer ride out on my pony with sets, and am unable to safely inspect them in stalls,” Attfield wrote. “Both of these things always helped me understand my horses’ needs, mentally and physically, to get the very best from them. No longer being able to perform these duties properly, it’s time to say ‘Hasta La Vista!’ ” Attfield has won every major award in Canada multiple times, including the Sovereign Award for Outstanding Trainer eight times. He has trained six Canadian Horses of the Year, won the Canadian Triple Crown with three different horses, and won 22 of the races in the Canadian Triple Crown series in total. :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. Although based for most of the year in Canada, Attfield frequently traveled south with his horses to raid graded stakes across the U.S., with Grade 1 wins in California, New York, Kentucky, Florida, and Illinois. He also won the 2011 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf with Perfect Shirl. He typically wintered in Florida. A hands-on trainer who nevertheless was noted for his impeccable fashion sense, Attfield did not keep a particularly large stable. He never started more than 400 horses a year, though he did lead North America in purse earnings in 1990 while the primary trainer for Bud Willmot’s Kinghaven Farms. Attfield retires with 2,038 winners from 11,648 starters from a career spanning 1972 to 2026, for a lifetime strike rate of 17 percent. His horses earned a total of $112.2 million in purses. Attfield was born in Newbury, England. He started his career as a steeplechase rider and eventually became a top jockey on the international show-jumper circuit. He immigrated to Canada in 1970 at the age of 31 and quickly established himself as a leading trainer, winning his first Queen’s Plate in 1975 with Norcliffe, his first starter in the race. Attfield would win the Canadian Triple Crown in 1989 with With Approval and then sweep the three races the next year with Izvestia. In 1993, he won the series again with Peteski. All three were named Canada’s Horse of the Year. Attfield was inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 1999, at the minimum age for a trainer to be eligible (60). He was inducted into the U.S Hall of Fame in 2012. :: Access morning workout reports straight from the tracks and get an edge with DRF Clocker Reports Attfield said in his letter that he would like to thank his owners “from the bottom of my heart” and said that he would also “continue to fight for everything that will help our industry” while in retirement. “It is with a very heavy heart that I have decided to retire from training,” Attfield said. “Having hung up my first shingle when only 17, as a rider and trainer of horses I feel that 69 years later is a pretty good number of innings.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.