SINGAPORE - After thrilling horse-racing fans for many years, champion sprinter Rocket Man, Singapore's most famous horse, and the first Singapore-based galloper to win an International Group 1 race, was officially retired on Sunday (Dec 4)  at a simple yet emotional farewell party at Kranji.

The Viscount 11-year-old, widely regarded as the most globally recognisable racing brand name to have come out of Singapore in the modern era, was paraded in front of horse-racing fans before Race 7, the Rocket Man Farewell Stakes, a S$125,000 Kranji Stakes A race over 1,100m.

With jockey Barend Vorster aboard, Rocket Man was presented with a basket of carrots while 2,000 black Rocket Man caps were handed out to fans.

Trained by Patrick Shaw, Rocket Man bows out with an outstanding record of 20 wins, five seconds and one fourth (in the Grade 1 Sprinters Stakes in Japan) from 27 starts for stakes earnings in excess of S$6.7 million, the highest ever made by a local racehorse.

He also remains undefeated on local soil in domestic events – 17 runs for 17 wins, including a record four Lion City Cup triumphs from 2009 to 2012.

Rocket Man's grand victories overseas include his historic Group 1 Dubai Golden Shaheen (1,200m) win in 2011, after four close seconds in such Group 1 events, the Group 1 KrisFlyer International Sprint (1,200m) win in 2011, and a dead-heat with the John Moore-trained One World in a Group 2 race, the Cathay Pacific Jockey Club Sprint (1,200m) in Hong Kong in 2010.

What made the two-time Singapore Horse of the Year (2011 and 2012) winner's feats even more impressive is the fact that Rocket Man was plagued by leg issues for the best part of his racing career.

He first had a condylar fracture to his offside cannon bone as a three-year-old and then a suspensory ligament injury to his nearside leg three years later. However, as a sign of his bottomless courage, he overcame them to continue racing at the highest level. Indeed, he was even once ranked as the world’s second-highest rated sprinter in the world.

Shaw and his staff, including assistant-trainers Ricardo Le Grange and Jacci de Tert, were on hand on Sunday to see their hero take his final bow.

“It’s every trainer’s wish to have a horse like Rocket Man,” said Shaw. “I’m going through mixed emotions as I watch him say his goodbye.

"On one hand, I’m sad to see him go as he’s done so much for us. But at the same time, he’s going to a lovely place on the beach in Cape Town where he will spend the rest of his retiring days.

“My good friend and trainer Mike Stewart has a stabling facility there and has a small area on the side where he will stay.

“My daughter is in Cape Town and will visit him often. I will be going up and down back home, and every time I go to Cape Town, I will drop by to see him.”