Minella Times, who Rachael Blackmore rode to a ground-breaking Grand National win, was retired on Tuesday, with the Irish jockey saying the 10-year-old is a “special horse”.

Blackmore in 2021 became the first female jockey to win the famous jumps race.

Minella Times, trained by Henry De Bromhead, was being trained to run at the Grand National at Aintree in April, but he picked up an injury on Monday.

“He’s such a special horse for me. He gave me the best day in racing I’ve had, there’s a lot of hot competition for that but it was such an incredible day,” Blackmore told British media.

“You have so much gratitude for a horse when they give you something like he did.”

Blackmore was reunited with Minella Times for the Grand National in 2022, but failed to finish.