Report: French training great Freddy Head will retire at year-end

French training great Freddy Head, formerly a champion jockey, will retire at the end of the year, Racing Post reported.

Head, who recently turned 75, rode the multiple champion Miesque, and he trained the Hall of Fame mare Goldikova.

"Age catches up with us all and I've been working since I was 16," Head told Racing Post. "It's time for me to enjoy other things. I always felt 75 would be the time to stop and I'm delighted. I never wanted to go on past the stage where I was embittered, that would have been horrible.

As a jockey, Head won France's champion jockey award, the Cravache d'Or, six times.

Aboard Miesque, he won the Newmarket and Longchamp Guineas double and the Breeders' Cup Mile in 1997 and 1998, Racing Post reported. And he won the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe four times.

As a trainer, his first champion was Marchand D'Or, who won the Maurice de Gheest for three consecutive years, as Moonlight Cloud also did for Head.

Goldikova won 14 Group 1s in five seasons, which remains a European record among Flat performers. She was the first horse to win the same Breeders' Cup race three times, taking the Mile in 2008, 2009 and 2010.

He also was the first person to ride and train Breeders' Cup winners.

Head's son Christopher and daughter Victoria also are trainers, according to the report.