James Tate 'gutted' as rising sprint star Far Above suffers career-ending injury

Far Above, who produced an electric burst of speed to win the Group 3 Palace House Stakes at Newmarket on Saturday, has been retired after sustaining an injury in the race.

Trained by James Tate for Sheikh Rashid Dalmook Al Maktoum, Far Above was racing at five furlongs for the first time last weekend and showed the attributes of a potentially top-class sprinter when defeating Judicial under jockey PJ McDonald.

Far Above: an exciting sprinter for Darley's FarhhCredit: Edward Whitaker

The handicapper hiked Far Above up 12lb to a rating of 111 after his Newmarket success, but connections have been forced to bring the four-year-old’s career to an end after he finished lame.

“We’re gutted,” Tate said on Thursday. “I mean some of the work he did was astounding and on Saturday at Newmarket people got to see just a little bit of that.

“PJ said he felt him take a wrong step running down the hill and unfortunately he’s injured a sesamoid in a front leg. It’s only a small injury but it’s in a bad place and it’s the right thing for the horse to pull stumps.”

Watch Far Above's outstanding final outing

Far Above raced five times, winning four including the Listed Prix Kistena at Deauville last year. Following his victory in the Palace House Stakes, Tate labelled him “the fastest I’ve trained” despite being by Champion Stakes winner Farhh out of a mare by Shamardal.

No stud plans have been confirmed for Far Above, but Tate is optimistic a place will be found once the sprinter has had a chance to recover from the injury.

Tate said: “His work at home was exceptional and he had the biggest of engines. I’ve trained quite a lot of sprinters and he had an electric pace like I’ve never seen. I’m sure he was Group 1 class.

James Tate: keen to send a mare to Far Above at studCredit: Edward Whitaker

“In terms of breeding, being by Farhh and out of a Shamardal mare, he wasn’t bred to sprint and he was a very relaxed horse but seeing the pace he showed, no horse could produce that and stay properly beyond five furlongs.

“He deserves a shot at stud and I’ll certainly be sending him a mare. We’ve had a few calls about him but it’s a long time until the next breeding season so we’ll let him recover and then see what happens after that.”

Far Above raced five times, winning four races and finishing fourth in his only other start. He won £58,122 in total prize-money.

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