Kastoria retired, to be bred to Gone West

The Aga Khan's homebred KASTORIA (Ire) (Selkirk), the top-rated older female

at staying distances in 2006, has been retired and will be bred to Gone West,

according to Racing Post. Heroine of the Irish St. Leger S. (Ire-G1) and

an unlucky runner-up in the Hong Kong Vase (HK-G1) in December, the six-year-old

had originally been penciled in for Dubai.

"His Highness decided against keeping Kastoria in training as she is six,

which is quite old for one of his fillies to have a first covering," trainer

John Oxx told Racing Post. "We would have liked to run her in the (Dubai)

Sheema Classic ([UAE-G1] on March 31), especially as she showed progressive form

towards the end of last year, but it wasn't to be, and she has moved on to

another stage of her career."

The blaze-faced chestnut heads to the paddocks with a record of 13-6-5-0 and

earnings of £514,562. In addition to her defeat of Yeats (Ire) (Sadler's Wells) in the Irish St.

Leger, Kastoria outfinished her Hong Kong conqueror Collier Hill (GB) (Dr

Devious [Ire]) in the Curragh Cup (Ire-G3) in July and collected a pair of listed

events. She was also the runner-up in both the Park Hill S. (Eng-G2) and Prix de

Royallieu (Fr-G2) in 2005.

The daughter of Group 3 winner Kassana (Shernazar) hails from the Aga Khan

family of Irish champion Kahyasi.