Star-struck Kinane calls it a day

London: Mick Kinane named Sea The Stars as the best he had ridden in a glittering career that ended officially on Tuesday when the Irishman announced his retirement.

He also nominated Montjeu and Vintage Crop as two other personal favourites with whom he had been associated during his 34 years in the saddle.

It was typical of Kinane, 50, that he broke the news on home territory in low-key style. No fanfare, just a wet Tuesday in December on his return from Japan, where he had ridden at the weekend.

"Look, I still feel great," he said from his home near Punchestown, Co Kildare, "But there comes a time," he added.

That time might have been a year ago if not for the absence of a Group One winner during 2008 and the emerging talent of a young horse destined to become one of the greats, Sea The Stars.

"That year was disappointing. It was the first season I hadn't ridden a Group One winner since I had started riding Group One winners, and I was never going to leave the game like that. Then Sea The Stars came along and had this incredible season. You couldn't have written the script," he said.

Kinane had more than an inkling that Sea The Stars was special when riding him in his work as a two-year-old, before he had ever raced.

Regime

Then last winter in Dubai, the jockey embarked on a regime of running and exercise with the specific aim of being fitter than he had ever been, so he could be prepared for what he hoped would be a memorable season.

He was running, playing golf and competing twice a week in races in Dubai. His mission, to be sharper and fitter, worked perfectly and he returned at his peak for the new season and Sea The Stars's assault on the Classics.

Kinane was retained jockey at Ballydoyle, from 1999 to 2003, but despite Classic wins and other highlights, including two Breeders' Cup victories, his confidence suffered following high-profile defeats in America on Rock Of Gibraltar and Giant's Causeway.

It is to Kinane's great credit that he was able to reconstruct his career in his middle 40s and to finish off with such a flourish as retained jockey to John Oxx through the exploits of Sea The Stars, whom he rates as absolutely exceptional.

Oxx was unstinting in his praise of Kinane.

"Nobody could ever have had a better stable jockey," Oxx said.