Frankel retirement rumour scotched

Teddy Grimthorpe has refuted rumours that Frankel, the world’s highest-rated Flat horse, has been retired.

Sir Henry Cecil’s nine-time winner suffered an injury when working in Newmarket on Wednesday morning, the full extent of which is not yet known.

There had been suggestions on Saturday afternoon that the unbeaten colt had run his last race, but speaking from Grand National day at Aintree, Grimthorpe, racing manager to owner Khalid Abdullah, insisted such talk was premature.

“He certainly hasn’t been retired. I spoke to Henry two or three hours ago, I spoke to him this morning and I spoke to him last night,” Grimthorpe told Racing UK.

“No decision at all will be taken until after he has had this definitive scan which is due to take place next week.

“No decision has been made regarding anything to do with his future at the moment. He certainly hasn’t been retired at this stage and it’s incorrect to think that.

“We are hopeful and quite positive that he will be OK, but at the moment, we really don’t know and it’s too early to say.”