Sir Michael Stoute has announced that he will retire from training at the end of the season.

Stoute, 78, has become a stalwart of the training ranks over the years and enjoyed a long and successful career spanning across five decades.

Responsible for numerous equine champions, the now Newmarket-based handler was arguably most famously associated with the ill-fated 1981 Epsom Derby hero Shergar, who was mystically abducted from his Aga Khan's stud two years after his scintillating ten-length Derby success under Walter Swinburn.

Stoute managed a remarkable 10 British Champion Trainer titles, six Epsom Derby's and 16 British Classic victories throughout his training career. Alongside a stellar career in Britain, Sir Michael Stoute plundered a number of top-level prizes across the globe, including victories in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, Japan Cup, Dubai World Cup, Hong Kong Vase and the Breeders' Cup.

In a statement to the PA news agency, Stoute said: "I have decided to retire from training at the end of this season.

"I would like to thank all my owners and staff for the support they have given me over the years.

"It has been a great and enjoyable journey."

Sir Michael Stoute enjoyed a breakthrough success in Group 1 company when saddling Blue Cashmere to land the 1974 Nunthorpe Stakes, while his recent top-level victory came when Richard Kingscote steered Bay Bridge to win the Qipco British Champion Stakes at Ascot in 2022.

The Barbadian British trainer has had 82 Royal Ascot winners, a number only surpassed by Aidan O'Brien in 2023. Stoute has also been the leading trainer at the royal meeting on six separate occasions.

He has also trained six winners of the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, the Juddmonte International Stakes, the Coral Eclipse Stakes, the Irish Oaks and the Falmouth Stakes.

Stoute was inducted into the Qipco British Horseracing Hall of Fame in 2023.