John McNair turned to his wife Sue just before they jumped in the Premiere Stakes and squeezed her arm and gave her a kiss.

It was a kiss for luck.

McNair expected nothing in the Premiere from his wonderful old sprinter Hay List, only that he'd come home safely.

He did, in second last place. And McNair had his binoculars on him, to make sure he was alright, until he pulled up and turned around to come back to the enclosure.

McNair would have loved to have added a postscript to the performance of a horse who has won his owners more than $2.5 million.

But for a reason known only to the Davenport family who race him, McNair couldn't say what he wanted to say - that Hay List would not race again.

After a lengthy, post-race discussion on the horse's future, the senior part-owners, the fashion designer Liz Davenport and her husband Terry, decided to think about it.

McNair said only that he would no longer train the horse.

"The owners are coming to talk about it tomorrow, but I have told them we don't think it is worth the risk going on," McNair said.

"I couldn't forgive ourselves if something happened.

"But it is the owners' horse, and if they want to continue it won't be with us."

Until Black Caviar came along, Hay List was Australia's best sprinter.

Even after the unbeaten mare asserted herself, he was the one who, more than any other horse, took it up to her.

The pair met six times and he finished second to her four times including the TJ Smith Stakes when he led her by six lengths and was run down.

"He's a brave horse, one of the best, one of my favourites," said his regular rider Glyn Schofield.

"He doesn't deserve this."