High Chaparral, Hawk Wing to Return Next Year

Rock of Gibraltar has been retired to stud duty, but the horse's Coolmore connections plan to campaign his well-known stablemates, Breeders' Cup Turf champion High Chaparral and Classic contender Hawk Wing, as four-year-olds.

"High Chaparral and Hawk Wing are both staying in training," trainer Aidan O'Brien told The Racing Post. "They were very exciting three-year-olds and we are looking forward to having them at four.

"We will also have Black Sam Bellamy, Sorcerous and Sholokhov staying in training as a four-year-olds and Milan also stays in training."

It marks a change in direction at Ballydoyle, where O'Brien's trainees ordinarily race exclusively at age two and three and are either retired to stand at Coolmore or sold.

Black Sam Bellamy is a full-brother to Galileo who won the Group I Gran Premio del Jockey Club at San Siro in Milan in October. Sholokhov, often used as a pacemaker, was second in both the Group I Irish Derby and the Eclipse.

Sorcerous was unable to achieve the high hopes his connections had for him at three, when he was considered a Derby hope, while Milan was injured in May and has not raced since.