Rail Link, won Arc, retired

Last year's Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner, Rail Link, was retired on Thursday, one day after his owners at Juddmonte Farms had announced that he would not run this year. Having strained a tendon, Rail Link, a 4-year-old son of Dansili, is likely to head to Juddmonte's Banstead Manor Stud in Newmarket, England. There he would step into the shoes of the recently deceased Rainbow Quest. Juddmonte's racing manager, Teddy Grimthorpe, said that an official announcement on Rail Link's stud plans would be forthcoming.

Trained in France by Andre Fabre, Rail Link won 5 of 7 starts, among them the Group 1 Prix Arc de Triomphe, the Group 1 Grand Prix de Paris, the Group 2 Prix Niel and the Group 3 Prix du Lys, for earnings of $1,976,387. Unraced at 2, he won his last five outings and was named co-highweight European with George Washington on the World Thoroughbred Racehorse Rankings, two pounds behind Invasor and one pound behind both Bernardini and Discreet Cat.

* Peter Chapple-Hyam announced on Thursday that his Epsom Derby winner Authorized would skip the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes at Ascot on July 28 and instead prepare for an autumn campaign that would include the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown on Sept. 8 and the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp on Oct. 7. Authorized most recently finished second to Notnowcato in the Eclipse Stakes on July 7.