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Rock Hard Ten retired from racing 11/18/2005 8:18:35 PM ARCADIA, Calif. (AP) - Rock Hard Ten, a leading candidate for horse of the year honours before being scratched from last month's Breeders' Cup Classic, was retired Friday after an examination detected worn cartilage in his left front foot. Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens called Rock Hard Ten the best horse he's ever ridden. Rock Hard Ten, a four-year-old colt, completed his career with seven wins in 11 starts and earnings of $1,870,380 US. He was unbeaten in three races this year, and won four major stakes races after Richard Mandella became his trainer, including the $1 million Santa Anita Handicap last March. ''You haven't seen the best of him,'' Stevens said after that race. But Rock Hard Ten raced only one more time, winning the $484,000 Goodwood Handicap at Santa Anita on Oct. 1. Rock Hard Ten figured as one of the favourites in the Breeders' Cup Classic at Belmont Park, but was scratched from the $4.7 million race because of a bruised right front foot. Rock Hard Ten bruised his left foot about a week earlier. Mandella didn't believe that injury was serious at the time. ''After his undefeated four-year-old campaign, we are saddened by this decision, but felt it was best to retire him at this point,'' Mandella said. ''Given the tremendous interest in him as a stallion prospect, we hope his career at stud will be as great as his racing one was.'' Mandella said the problem was discovered Thursday in one of Rock Hard Ten's sesamoid bones, which are located above and at the back of the fetlock joint, similar to a knuckle in humans. ''We went in with an arthroscope. The cartilage had worn off pretty good about the size of a dime,'' he said. ''It's such an important part to a race horse right there. We thought best to advise retirement.'' Mandella said Rock Hard Ten's career was ''barely tapped.'' ''He was a great horse in the making. He'd already proven enough,'' the trainer said. ''He did prove an awful lot. It would be a shame for him to come back at 75 per cent.'' The retirement was announced in a release issued by owner Ernest Moody of Las Vegas. ''He showed the world his style and class by beating any and all who showed up to race against him this year,'' Moody said. ''He is the best horse I ever sat on,'' Stevens said in the release. ''He is the kind of horse that could win Grade 1 stakes races at both sprint and classic distances. Not too many other horses in the history of racing have ever done that.'' According to the release, the ownership is evaluating where Rock Hard Ten will stand at stud. Rock Hard Ten was disqualified from second to third in the Santa Anita Derby in 2004, then didn't qualify for the Kentucky Derby because he hadn't won enough money. His DQ in California kept him below the earnings threshold for Kentucky. By the end of the year, the owners switched trainers, replacing Calgary native Jason Orman with the high-profile Mandella. Rock Hard Ten responded with victories in the Malibu Stakes in December 2004 and the Strub Stakes last February before winning the Santa Anita Handicap.