Five-time Grade One winner Bob Olinger has settled quickly into a happy retirement after bowing out on a high at Punchestown last week.
The 11-year-old gelding, who scored three of his top-level victories at the Cheltenham Festival with jockey Rachael Blackmore, retired after winning his fifth Grade One, the Ladbrookes Champion Stayers’ Hurdle at Punchestown on Thursday (30 April), piloted by Darragh O’Keeffe.
“Bob clearly read the script for that one,” said trainer Henry de Bromhead. “The most perfect ending for a truly incredible horse, who we’ve been lucky enough to have been associated with for the last six years.”
Mr de Bromhead thanked owners the Acheson family for trusting the yard “with their third child” and congratulated the horse’s connections.
“Thank you Bob and happy retirement,” he said.
He later shared a video of the new retiree lying down and relaxing in the sunshine with the caption: “Bob taking his first day of retirement very seriously”.
Bob Olinger won his first Grade One hurdle at Naas in January 2021, making it a brace two months later with the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle title at Cheltenham. The following year, he and Rachael won the Turners Novices Chase at the Cheltenham Festival, and also went on to win the 2025 Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle. In all, he won 11 of his 22 starts under Rules and bagged more than £825,000 in prize money.
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Brian Acheson had indicated beforehand that Thursday’s race would be Bob Olinger’s final start.
Following his victory, he told Racing TV the horse “has been a rock star”.
“We made up our minds over the weekend; he was 11 years old, he’d done everything, it would be greedy of me to ask him to do more next year, even though he would probably have wanted to,” he said.
“He’s always been the third child and every parent wants their children at home! I just wanted him at home.”
The horse’s first Cheltenham Festival victory, during the Covid-restricted 2021 festival, was among Mr Acheson’s favourite memories. But the one that meant the most was the Relkeel Hurdle on New Year’s Day in 2024.
“Going to Cheltenham and hearing the roar on that New Year’s Day with 35,000 people there. When he went past Strong Leader, it gave me goose bumps and we thought, ‘Right, we have our horse back’,” said Mr Acheson.
“He loves Cheltenham, he and Rachael came alive in the place. He’s something special, he really is. When he’s at home on the farm, I go down and sit in the field with him. He’ll ignore me! But he’s just a cool dude. He’s a Hollywood superstar – he read the script and he performed.”
Lucy is an experienced news journalist, reporter and presenter. Since joining the Horse & Hound team in 2015, Lucy has reported from major global sporting events including the Tokyo Paralympic Games and multiple European Championships, as well as Badminton, Burghley and London, to name a few. She has covered current affairs and sports news across the full spectrum of equestrian disciplines and racing, as well as human and equine welfare, industry news and court cases.
