Derham announces retirement of ‘magnificent’ Brentford Hope

Brentford Hope has been retired following his run at Newbury on Saturday.

The nine-year-old finished nearly 25 lengths adrift of Rubber Ball in the BetVictor Favourite Things, Bet Boosts Handicap Hurdle and trainer Harry Derham believes the horse has indicated “he’s done enough”.

Brentford Hope won nine of his 24 starts for Derham after switching from Richard Hughes on the Flat, earning just over £150,000.

Derham told stable sponsor OLBG: “After speaking to his owners on Saturday at Newbury, we decided to call it a day with him.

“It was the first time I’ve ever seen him not want to jump off. Now, he ran fine and gave a stone away to the first three.

“He’s nine. His body isn’t getting any better. You know, he’s always had a sort of flat horse trot, but it’s getting progressively worse. And I think, after all he’s done for us, I’d like him to have a retirement while he’s still sound in body and mind.

“He has just been absolutely magnificent for us. You sort of get to a stage where, if he went back down to 130, he might be able to win again, but the body’s not getting any better.

“I’ve watched him in a lot of races now, obviously, and at the start on Saturday I’ve never, ever seen him look reluctant before. Meg (Fox) was having to boot him round and kick him to get him going, and she pushed him away from the start. I thought that was probably him telling us he’s done enough.”