Richard Hannon hailed Rosallion as "a horse of a lifetime" after the trainer said the three-time group 1 winner had been retired.
Owned and bred by Sheikh Mohammed Obaid, Rosallion's finest moment came in last year's St James's Palace Stakes (G1) at Royal Ascot where he defeated Henry Longfellow and Notable Speech, winners of the 2023 Vincent O'Brien National Stakes (G1) and of the 2024 English Two Thousand Guineas (G1), respectively.
Rosallion claimed his first group 1 as a 2-year-old in 2023 when landing the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere (G1) on Arc day under jockey Sean Levey, who rode him in all of his 13 starts, and also won the Irish Two Thousand Guineas (G1) from stablemate Haatem last year.
Speaking at Newbury Oct. 25, Hannon said: "He was a horse of the lifetime and the best I've ever worked with. This season has just been so desperately unlucky but when you have a horse like that, life revolves around them. You miss those horses when they're not there but it makes you want to strive to find another one. He was exceptional to look at and to work with.
"His racing career will take a lot of beating but I imagine he'll be even better as a stallion. Hopefully, they don't remember him for this year, even though he's the best miler around and what he has done in some of his races has been astronomical.
"When you see him standing there, he looks like superman. His temperament is too good and he won the St James's Palace, the Irish Guineas, and the Lagardere in record-breaking fashion. He was exceptional."
Rosallion did not race again at 3 after his Royal Ascot victory, but returned to training this year where he came agonizingly close to adding another group 1 to his haul.
After finishing third in his comeback from over 300 days off the course in the Lockinge Stakes (G1), Rosallion failed by a nose to catch Docklands in the Queen Anne Stakes (G1), while he was also beaten a neck by 150-1 shot Qirat in the Sussex Stakes (G1) at Glorious Goodwood and by a short head when second to Sahlan in the Prix du Moulin (G1).
Rosallion retires as the winner of five of his 13 starts with an additional six placed efforts. In total, he earned £1,638,294 in win and place prize money during his career.
The 4-year-old son of Blue Point will stand as part of the Darley stallion band with a fee and location to be announced in the coming days.
