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Megalala, whose longevity, sheer will to win and exuberant front-running tactics made him a hero at places like Brighton, Lingfield and Kempton for more than a decade, has finally been retired at the age of 17.

Winner of 20 races from 148 starts during a remarkable career which began in April 2005 in a Fontwell bumper, the son of Petardia became in June 2016 the oldest horse to win on the Flat in Britain since 1945 when scoring at Lingfield.

That proved to be his final win, and his last race came at Windsor last October. Trainer John Bridger had been planning to continue with him this year, but is happy to have made the decision to retire him in one piece.

“He’s retired now,” Bridger said. “There’s nothing wrong with him, but if I ran him and something went wrong people would never forgive me.

“He is 17 and there comes a time when you’ve just got to stop. We’ve now reached that time with Megalala.”

The trainer added: “He’s out in the field with four or five others and he looks great. You could run him tomorrow, you really could.

“He’s been a wonderful horse, and will stay here with me. He’s part of the furniture. He’s been brilliant to me.

“If they were all like him this game would be easy. All you had to do was feed him, keep him fit and he’d do the rest.