Full-time for Johan Cruyff
Brilliant Hong Kong Derby winner Johan Cruyff was officially retired yesterday and is off to a career at stud in Australia.
Bought by Patrick Biancone after finishing fourth in the Irish Derby at The Curragh, Johan Cruyff lived up to all expectations with his slashing win in the 1998 Sha Tin equivalent when he won as he pleased.
His clashes with Indigenous were a feature of local racing for three seasons.
But lately Johan Cruyff had clearly been showing that his attentions were elsewhere rather than on the racecourse.
A stud career had been planned for some time by owner Thomas Liang Ting-sen, who has breeding interests in in the United States and Australia.
The six-year-old's last race was in the Stewards' Cup when he was never in the hunt behind the superb Resfa.
Trainer David Oughton, who returned from England last night, said: 'I really only had him for a few months when his racing career was tapering off.
'But you have only to look at his record to realise how good he was.
'He was just getting a bit sour of it all. The decision to send him abroad for breeding purposes is absolutely right,' said Oughton.' Johan Cruyff's lifetime earnings were just over $12 million and one his greatest efforts, outside his Derby triumph, was finishing second to Japanese raider Midnight Bet in the 1998 renewal of the then International Cup.
In his last full season of racing, he finished second no fewer than five times in six starts with a third placing gained in his final appearance of last season.
A planned start in the staying climax to the season, the Champions and Chater Cup, was aborted when Johan Cruyff was withdrawn from the race because of a lame shoulder.
TT & DT guide - Pages 22-23
