William Fox-Pitt’s four-star winner Oslo has been retired from competition.
The 15-year-old gelding, owned by the Fox-Pitt Partnership syndicate, has a host of three-star titles to his name and won at his first CCI4* attempt in Pau 2011.
“The owners in the Fox-Pitt Partnership and myself have very sadly decided to retire the amazing Oslo,” said a statement from William today (28 June).
“He has had a catalogue of setbacks and this year has shown some issues in his hocks.
“He has given us so much, and old age is obviously not his thing, so we have decided to call it a day.
“He will be missed enormously from the team but he is very happy out with Freddie Mac and Reinstated.”
During his competitive career, Oslo won a remarkable five out of his 16 international starts and finished in the top three on four other occasions.
William bought him as a four-year-old and produced him up through the levels.
The combination won the 2008 World Young Horse Championship for six-year-olds in Le Lion d’Angers and finished runner-up in the seven-year-olds’ class the following year.
His other titles included Tattersalls CCI3* and Blenheim eight- and nine-year-old CIC3* in 2011.
The son of Lando was one of William Fox-Pitt’s potential rides in the run-up to the London 2012 Olympics. However a foreleg suspensory ligament injury ruled him out of contention ahead of the team announcement.
He recovered and returned to top-level competition.
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William added they have decided to give him a break and “see if everything settles down”.
“It will be lovely in the future to find him a super hacking home,” he added.
“He is such an excellent hack and is lovely to do so someone would be lucky to have him. He he is just too young to sit around doing nothing.”
In an interview with H&H in 2012, William said the horse was a “real advert for syndicates and how much fun they can be”.
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