'It's highly likely she'll be the last' - Sir Michael Stoute could field final runner on Wednesday

Wanderlust looks likely to go down in the history books as the final runner of Sir Michael Stoute's remarkable training career when she contests the 1m6f handicap (3.50) at Nottingham on Wednesday.

Stoute revealed in September his plans to retire at the end of the current season, bringing to a close one of the ­finest and most successful training careers on the Flat in Britain. 

Although he could not be 100 per cent definitive that Wanderlust would be the very last runner to appear under his name on a racecard, the six-time Derby winner has no other entries before Saturday's turf season finale at Doncaster and conceded that in all likelihood the Newsells Park Stud-owned three-year-old would be his last runner from Freemason Lodge. 

"It's highly likely she will be the last one," said Stoute on Monday. "We have no other entries at the moment and she is probably the last one but it's not an absolute certainty."

Looking back on a training career spanning 52 years, Stoute added: "It's been a very mixed journey; fun, disappointing and a bit of everything, and people have been very kind. I've no holidays planned yet but I will!"

Sir Michael Stoute pictured in the aftermath of his sixth and final Derby win with Desert Crown in 2022Credit: Edward Whitaker

Wanderlust, who holds an entry in the December sales, is set to face 11 rivals under Richard Kingscote at Nottingham as she tries to register the first win of her career on her fifth start. 

Providing she is her trainer's last runner, Wanderlust will close a training career which began in 1972 and includes 82 winners at Royal Ascot, 16 Classic victories in Britain and 11 in Ireland among more than 4,000 successes. 

The 79-year-old, who was crowned champion trainer in Britain on ten occasions, grew up in Barbados and moved to the North Yorkshire stable of trainer Pat Rohan as a 19-year-old. He auditioned for the job of BBC racing correspondent soon afterwards but lost out to Julian Wilson. 

Within a few years he had launched his own training career from a small yard in ­Newmarket, with Sandal, ridden by Lester Piggott, becoming his first winner when scoring at his local track in April 1972. His last winner before Wednesday came when Inherit completed a double for her trainer at Southwell on October 5.

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Michael Holding: 'I'm glad Michael's been strong enough to say listen, I've had a great time, and I can now walk away'

Ten of Sir Michael Stoute's best: superstar Shergar heads titans trained by the Newmarket legend 

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