Pathfork retired

Tommy and Bonnie Hamilton's Pathfork, the 2010 Irish highweight two-year-old

colt off a sensational victory in the Group 1 Vincent O'Brien National Stakes,

has been retired from racing. Stud plans have yet to be finalized.

The attractive bay son of Distorted Humor was purchased at the 2009 Keeneland

September Yearling Sale for $230,000 by agent Ben McElroy on behalf of the

Hamiltons's Silverton Hill LLC.

Pathfork first emerged on the scene in a maiden at the Curragh on Irish Oaks

Day when easily defeating a field of highly touted maidens by four lengths. He

then went on to win the Group 2 Futurity Stakes ahead of the National Stakes, in

which he defeated subsequent Group 1 Racing Post Trophy hero Casamento, with a

further seven lengths back to favored Zoffany. Pathfork returned to action as

the joint second-favorite behind Frankel in the 2011 Group 1 English Two

Thousand Guineas, but was sidelined thereafter.

He joined the California barn of John Sadler in 2012, but X-rays taken March

6 revealed an injury to the back of his left knee called an osteochondroma.

Sadler said the colt appeared fine immediately after a March 2 allowance race,

but noticed he was slightly off the next day and decided to have an X-ray taken.

"It's a tremendous shame, because this horse had the ability to match his

great looks and he had a tremendous mind," Sadler said. "I think he would have

needed considerable time off, and I think Mr. Hamilton decided it was time to

retire him."

Pathfork, produced by a stakes-winning half-sister to champion and Breeders'

Cup Mile hero Spinning World, hails from a tremendous Niarchos family that

contains numerous other influential sires.

"When you look at the list of past champion two-year-old colts in Ireland, it

definitely makes for impressive reading," Tommy Hamilton stated. "I think it

certainly helps his credentials to become an attractive proposition for breeders

wherever he may stand."