EUROPEAN champion two-year-old Little Big Bear has been retired aged three due to injury.
A statement on Coolmore's official website said he had suffered a 'condylar fracture on the right front fetlock'.
Little Big Bear, who was owned by the Smith, Magnier, Tabor and Westerberg partnership, was a Group 1 sensation in the Keeneland Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh last August.
But nearly a year to the day since his seven-length rout, injuries have taken their toll.
Paying tribute, trainer Aidan O'Brien said: "Little Big Bear is a super horse, that’s the long and the short of it.
"Different class, different gear and matured very early for a big horse.
"He’s big, scopey, strong, clear winded and very, very fast – a class sprinter."
Little Big Bear won five of his nine races and won more than £445,000 for connections.
An out-and-out superstar at two, the only time he tasted defeat was a short-head second on debut in April last year.
After that he won at Naas before taking the Windsor Castle at Royal Ascot.
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Successive Group victories at the Curragh followed before he flopped completely on reappearance in this year's 2000 Guineas.
Little Big Bear rebounded with a convincing win in the Group 2 Betfred Nifty Fifty Sandy Lane Stakes at Haydock in May.
Sent off the 10-11 fav for the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot he finished runner-up to Shaquille, who totally blew the start.
When the pair had a rematch in Newmarket's July Cup Little Big Bear was eased down by Ryan Moore and finished last, 22 lengths behind winner Shaquille.
Punters were sad to learn a career that promised even more than what he had already achieved had been cut short.
One said: "Such a shame. Serious what-could-have-been vibes."
While another wrote: "What he did in the Phoenix Stakes last year will long be remembered. Superb."
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