Paul D'Arcy, who trained Indian Haven (GB) (Indian Ridge {Ire}) to win the G1 Irish 2000 Guineas in 2003, will saddle his final runner at Kempton on Wednesday. The soon-to-be 65-year-old will leg up John Egan on Knight of Kings (GB) (New Approach {Ire}) in the first race, a seven-furlong maiden over the all-weather. Egan was also aboard Indian Haven for his Classic score. A jockey prior to turning his hand to training, D'Arcy began training in 1993.
“I've no regrets, I turn 65 in February and always planned to step away then,” said D'Arcy. “The licence comes up for renewal on Feb. 1, so I don't see any point in renewing it for two weeks. We've been winding down for a while so we're down to five horses now. Those will now be going to John Butler, but I'll still be involved in a small way.”
Knight of Kings will be making his second start at Kempton after an eighth on debut at Wolverhampton on Dec. 27.
“There's no significance in me booking John for the last one, he rode that horse last time,” D'Arcy added. “Indian Haven was a very talented horse, he won the European Free Handicap and the Irish Guineas, but I still think he should have won the English Guineas.
“He was drawn on the fence at Newmarket when they decided to put the stalls against the rail. He just had nowhere to go. We never saw the best of him, he had a cecal dysfunction [form of colic] which was why he retired.
“We also had Edinburgh Knight (Ire) (Selkirk) who won the apprentice handicap on Champions Day, he was very talented, and of course there was Spring Loaded (Ire) (Zebedee {GB}) who was very good on his day. There's been lots of highlights.
“As we never had that many horses we got to know the horses personally, I can look back with pride. Whether we'll leave with a winner I don't know, It would be a dream if he did, but dreams don't tend to come true–I'm a realist. But racing is about dreams.”
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