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'

Legendary West Indies fast bowler Michael ‘Mikey’ Holding has been a friend of Sir Michael Stoute’s for 40 years and was a regular feature at his Newmarket yard in the summer months for more than two decades until 2021.    

Jamaican-born Holding met Barbadian Stoute in the year the Lester Piggott-ridden Shadeed won the 2,000 Guineas in 1985 and from slow beginnings their combined passion for racing, cricket and the Caribbean led to a long-standing connection.  

Holding, speaking from his home in the Cayman Islands, said he thought his friend was making the right decision to retire from training and at the right time. Stoute had previously dismissed inquiries about the possibility of his retirement, but Holding thinks drawing stumps now is the right call.