Michael Bernard’s outstanding thoroughbred Wow Wow has been retired from racing, the Jamaica Observer can confirm. Confirmation came from Bernard in a telephone interview yesterday.

The four-year-old bay colt by Casual Trick out of Sarah Barracuda was recently found to have bone chips in both of his knee joints. This is considered significant enough to compromise the animal’s athletic ability to perform on the race track, thus causing his owner and breeder to assess the horse’s future after which a decision was taken to retire him. Wow Wow will now travel to Orange Valley Estates where he will stand at stud.

“This is a sad day (yesterday) for the camp and for myself as we found out the problem with Wow Wow. He has brought us great joy over a very short period of time and that is why I have decided to retire him to stud. Plus, in the world of international racing the good two-year-olds and three-year-olds are often retired to stud at three.

“While at stud, Wow Wow will be served by mares owned by myself,” Bernard told the Observer.

Trained by Gary Subratie, Wow Wow was voted the champion two-year-old of 2019 when he swept all the major races on the juvenile calendar including the Jamaica Two-Year-Old Stakes, and he followed through into the early part of the COVID-19-interrupted season last year by winning the Jamaica 2000 Guineas Classic on his way to 11 consecutive victories.

“As the trainer of Wow Wow, I can say without any doubt that he has significantly helped to propel my career. Wow Wow has brought so much pleasure, so many joyous moments to remember to the stables and myself. He is a once in a lifetime horse to train and is certainly one of the best I have conditioned, if not the best.

“When we got the news that he had bone chips in his knees the decision to retire was an easy one, as Wow Wow deserves to enjoy the rest of time without the rigours of training. I simply cannot train a horse like Wow Wow with such an injury to win a one race of two. He deserves much better for what he has already done on the racetrack,“ Subratie said.

He started his career on June 29, 2019 over three furlongs (600m) straight where he finished in second place behind England’s Rose.

Wow Wow‘s winning streak came to an end on August 29 of last year when he was defeated by the top-rated Toona Ciliata over nine furlongs and 25 yards in an Open Allowance event.

This ultra-talented colt followed up his 2000 Guineas win with a second-place finish in the 10-furlong (2000m) Jamaica St Leger, but was unplaced in the 12-furlong (2400m) Jamaica Derby.

He last raced on December 23 over five furlongs straight and finished down the track as the favourite, ending his career with 11 wins, three second-place finishes from 16 starts with earnings of over $15 million.