Injured Admiral may not race again

Injury has cost Compton Admiral the chance to win a second Eclipse Stakes and may have ended his career. Gerard Butler's charge was the most noticeable absentee when nine horses were declared at yesterday's final declaration stage for the £325,000 Group One event over a mile and a quarter at Sandown tomorrow.

The five-year-old was yesterday found to have damaged a tendon, having been restricted to just two races since he sprang a 20-1 shock in the race in 1999. "He has met with a new tendon injury and we had no option but to scratch him from the Eclipse and more likely he will be retired now," Butler said. "We have waited a year and a half for this, and two days before the race it all comes to nothing. It's shattering."

"We've brought him back inch by inch and it's very bad news. This is no game for boys in short pants."

Aidan O'Brien's Black Minnaloushe heads a team of three from Ballydoyle as the champion Irish trainer attempts to follow up last year's success with Giant's Causeway. Mick Kinane, who missed the ride on Giant's Causeway through injury, will partner Black Minnaloushe.