A prolific career as trainer comes to an end due to his mother's failing health
Three-times Hong Kong champion Ivan Allan yesterday announced his retirement as a trainer at the end of the current season.
Singapore-born Allan, 63, moved here in 1992 looking for fresh challenges after dominating the Singapore-Malaysian scene for 20 years and will leave an indelible mark on Hong Kong racing.
Close to concluding his 12th season here, Allan has been champion trainer three times, won 536 Hong Kong races, 36 local and international Group Ones, produced six Horse of the Year title winners and his horses have won more than $550 million prize money.
He remains the only Hong Kong-based trainer to have won an international Group One race on foreign soil - taking the 2000 Yasuda Kinen in Tokyo with Fairy King Prawn - and is the only trainer to have won three of the four Hong Kong International Races staged in December.
Allan cited his mother's continuing ill health as the fundamental reason for a decision which will stun racing circles.
