JONATHAN Sheppard, a Hall of Fame trainer in the USA, whose horses excelled on the dirt, on turf and over steeplechase fences, will retire from American horse racing, but will continue to train a small stable in Ireland, he announced this week.

Sheppard has a string of six horses stabled in Wexford with James and Ellen Doyle, and they are being trained by Sheppard’s assistant Keri Brion. Their first Irish runner, Baltimore Bucko, finished a very promising third at Limerick after Christmas.