The Roger Varian trained Defoe has sadly passed away as it has been reported that the six year old broke his leg on the gallops and from that has been put to rest.
The gelding at the start of his career was seen to be a nearly horse and it was unknown whether he was ever going to hit the heights that his yard thought he would.
However, after finishing second in a Group One in Germany, the season after he converted into the star everyone thought he would be.
In May 2019 he was sent off at 11/1 in the Group One Coronation Cup at Epsom and having tailed away in these types events before he was over looked by many.
He proved doubters wrong that day to finally land his first black type event and then back that up at Royal Ascot in the Group Two Hardwicke Stakes, seeing off a class field of runners.
RIP Defoe, a superb talent and our thoughts go out to connections.