Tiger Tara retired

28 December 2019 , News

ONE of pacing’s great modern warriors has run his last race.

Trainer Kevin Pizzuto last night announced the retirement of his superstar former Kiwi, Tiger Tara, after a below-par run at Bathurst on Boxing Night.

It marked the end of a stellar career, which netted seven Group wins in a eight-year career which defied modern racing.

Tiger Tara was a warrior in every sense of the word, racing on from being a megastar at three for trainer Geoff Dunn in NZ to having the most dominant of open-class seasons as an eight-year-old stallion.

“He’s just not the horse he was … I guess it happens at his age,” Pizzuto said.

“To be honest, he’s been with me three years (since being bought from NZ) and he’s always had his issues. We’ve been able to work through, but he’s had enough now.

“He’s always had such great heart, tried so hard, but he’s had a few chances to show if he could get back to that amazing form of last season and he hasn’t been able to.

“He’s still competitive, but that’s not enough. It’s time to pull the pin.”

Tiger Tara retires with a record of 112 starts for 37 wins, 40 placings and $2,375,065 in earnings.

His golden streak came last season where he netted nine wins – including the Inter Dominion, Hunter Cup and Victoria Cup – plus another seven placings and earned $865,500.

“He was a top young horse in NZ and we bought him with a view to making him into a stallion. He’s served some mares over the past couple of seasons in between racing, but now he can focus on that,” Pizzuto said.

In Dunn’s care he has a superb three-year-old season, winning both the NZ 3YO Sires Stakes final and Northern Derby at Group 1 level.

Pizzuto cited the Inter Dominion win and Tiger Tara’s monstrous second to Thefixer in the 2018 NZ Cup as his greatest performances.

“Winning the Inter Dominion is everyone’s dream, it’s the ultimate and he was just in the zone that night,” he said. “We built his whole campaign around that night and smashed them in record time.

“As great as that run was, I reckon his second in that NZ Cup was right up there with it. He did all the work against all those top Purdon horses and was nosed-out by the one who had the cold sit and sprint lane.

“I’m not a person who has regrets, but that’s the one that got away. He deserved to win that race. He was the best run in it by a mile.”