Photograph: Woodbine/Michael Burns
Champion conditioner Roger Attfield, winner of a record-tying eight Kings Plate titles, together with three Canadian Triple Crowns, has introduced his retirement from coaching.
“It’s with a really heavy coronary heart that I’ve determined to retire from coaching,” Attfield stated in a letter shared with Woodbine about his resolution.
“I really feel 69 years is a reasonably good innings as a horse jockey and coach since I hung my first roof after I was simply 17 years outdated.
“I’ve been a hands-on coach all my life, however now, at 86 years outdated, I can now not experience a pony with a set, nor can I safely study a horse in a stall. This stuff have at all times helped me perceive the wants of horses, each mentally and bodily to get the perfect out of them. I can now not carry out these duties correctly. It is time to say, hurry!”
Attfield stated within the letter that he solely introduced seven horses to Florida for the winter. He stated there was a “minor disagreement” over when and the place to run him, so he ran him to a different coach.
“They had been all such nice horses. We are going to miss them and need all of them nothing however the perfect,” he wrote.
“Over time I’ve skilled for a lot of nice homeowners and I wish to sincerely thank them.
“My intention is to proceed proudly owning and breeding, in addition to consulting and buying. Additionally, as director of the native HBPA, I’ll proceed to battle for something that helps our business.”
After stints as a steeplechase jockey and an illustrious profession as a global present jumper, Roger Attfield has established himself as certainly one of North America’s prime Thoroughbred trainers.
Born in Newbury, England, Attfield immigrated to Canada in 1970 and took his first coaching job at Gateway Farms. Mr. Attfield is an eight-time winner of Canada’s Sovereign Award for Excellent Coach, skilled three Canadian Triple Crown winners, six Canadian Horse of the Yr, and gained practically 20 races within the Canadian Triple Crown sequence.
In 1976, Atfield bred the stallion Norcliffe to turn into the primary of eight Kings Plate winners and the primary Canadian Horse of the Yr. Attfield set the stage for Canada’s first Triple Crown winner, With Approval, in 1989. Attfield then gained the Queen’s Plate, Prince of Wales Stakes and Breeders’ Stakes once more at Izvestia the next 12 months, and in 1993 gained his third Canadian Triple Crown with Peteski.
In complete, he has eight plate wins, tied for probably the most by a coach. He additionally had nice success in the US, with Attfield successful his first Breeders’ Cup in 2011 when Good Char gained the filly turf at Churchill Downs. Attfield reached his 2,000th profession win in July 2022. He’s a member of each the Canadian and U.S. Horse Racing Corridor of Fame.
