After having finished second in the Winter Cup this past Saturday at Albion Park in Brisbane, Natalie Rasmussen, trainer-driver of the aged Australian superstar Blacks A Fake, has announced that she has retired her charge

from racing.

A report by the New Zealand Herald explains that Rasmussen made the decision after the 10-year-old's performance in the Winter Cup.

"I've always said I wouldn't keep him when he'd lost his greatness and now the time is right," she was quoted as saying.

"He's been through a lot in the past year or so. He did me proud becoming the only horse to qualify for a sixth Interdominion final in Auckland.

"I was going to retire him after that, but he had other ideas. He'll have to deal with it now. He's done enough."

Blacks A Fake, a four-time winner of the Interdominion Pace Grand Final, retires with $4,535,438 in purse earnings and victories in 72 of his 105 career starts. Besides his tallies in the Interdominion finals, the three-time Australian Horse of the Year recorded a pair of high-profile victories in the Queensland Cup.

(With files from the New Zealand Herald)

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