John and Thady Gosden's star stayer Stradivarius has been retired to stud.
The popular chestnut won the Gold Cup at Ascot three times as well as landing four Goodwood Cups, three Yorkshire Cups and two Doncaster Cups.
Owned by Bjorn Nielsen, he will now join the National Stud as a stallion.
The eight-year-old has run gallant races, twice behind Aidan O’Brien’s Kyprios – a horse half his age – in the Gold Cup and at Goodwood.
Stradivarius was a late absentee in the Lonsdale Cup at York last month due to a bruised foot, with the horse taking longer than expected to recover from the problem.
The son of Sea The Stars retires having won seven Group One races, winning 20 of his 35 outings in total, earning almost £3.5million in prize money.
"He has been trotting and cantering but it has taken longer to get over the bruised foot than we thought," Nielsen told the Racing Post.
"We felt it would be unfair to ask him to come back again as a nine-year-old next season after his enforced time off.
"It has been a fairytale from start to finish. Until this setback he had never been medicated and had never missed an engagement through injury."
Meanwhile, all the major contenders stood their ground at the first forfeit stage ahead of the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, with 27 horses remaining in Sunday’s ParisLongchamp highlight.
Australian star Verry Elleegant is set to be supplemented on Wednesday with a maximum field of 20 allowed.
Aidan O’Brien’s Luxembourg, the Mark Prescott-trained Alpinista and Adayar from Charlie Appleby’s yard are towards the head of the ante-post betting and all remain on course.
There is a strong Japanese challenge with Titleholder, Do Deuce, Stay Foolish and Deep Bond all still in the mix.
Last year’s winner Torquator Tasso, John and Thady Gosden’s Mishriff and Mostahdaf, French Derby and Eclipse winner Vadeni, Irish Derby hero Westover and Grand Prix de Paris winner Onesto are all in a seemingly open renewal.
Clerk of the course Charles de Cordon said on Monday morning that with five millimetres of rain falling over the weekend, conditions were good to soft (3.4) on the penetrometer, with a Going Stick reading of 8.2.
The rail will be out at 17 metres on Saturday for the first day of the meeting, preserving a fresh strip of ground, and set back on Sunday to its innermost line.
There will be a five-metre cutaway in operation for the last 50 metres, which equates to just over two furlongs up the home straight, designed to ease congestion. This will also offer an additional five metres of fresh ground.
While the last three Arcs have been run on very testing ground, officials are hopeful that rainfall will be limited this week.
Connections of promising filly La Parisienne are growing in confidence ahead of her bid.
Trained by Carlos and Yann Lerner, and co-owned by Kentucky-based Peter Bradley, the three-year-old daughter of Zarak won her first two starts and has been placed in three subsequent runs, the last twice in Group Ones.
Though her future may lay in America, the filly who cost the Lerners just €65,000 as a yearling in 2020, is set to take her chance in the Arc, for which she is as short as 12-1 with Paddy Power.
Yann Lerner said: "Everything is well with her. She looked well after her last race – it wasn’t too hard on her. She was fresh and there has been no problem with her preparation for the Arc.
"She ran well behind Nashwa previously and last time she was very unlucky.
"The race was easy for her and after the race, she looked like she would improve a lot for it. She has worked very well and we are very happy with her. Gerald Mosse will ride her at Longchamp again."
