Group 1 Cox Plate winner Adelaide has been retired and will shuttle to Coolmore Stud’s Hunter Valley base in 2015.

Adelaide (Ire) spent the majority of his career under the guidance of Ballydoyle trainer Aidan O’Brien.  A winner of his only two year-old start at Leopardstown, he developed into a top-notch three-year-old landing the G3 Gallinule Stakes and G1 Secretariat Stakes before sweeping to victory in Australia’s weight-for-age championship at Moonee Valley.

“He was all class,” said O’Brien.  “On fast ground he was a brilliant horse and I was very confident of having a big summer with him in Europe this year.”

Adelaide was transferred to Australian trainer Chris Waller but failed to fire on his only outing in the G1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes.  “It’s been a pleasure to be associated with a horse of this calibre,” said Waller.  “He’s a horse with an awesome change of pace and we’ve seen him do some spectacular things in trackwork.  It’s a shame the ground went against him at Randwick.”

The Galileo colt is the second Cox Plate winner to retire to Coolmore Australia following So You Think.  His dam Elletelle (Elnadim) was a Group 2 winner of the Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Adelaide will stand for a $22,000 (inc gst) service fee.