Hilary Parrott has announced the retirement of her Ayr hero Wayward Prince,

Scottish Grand National-winning handler Hilary Parrott has announced the retirement of her Ayr hero Wayward Prince, as well as her own departure from the training ranks.

A smart horse in his younger days for Ian Williams, Wayward Prince was nursed back to his best by Parrott, who has always owned him.

She took over his training for the 2012-13 season and he finished second in two Charlie Halls before winning the Grimthorpe Chase at Doncaster in January and landing the Ayr feature last week.

"We have retired him now. He's 11 and he can't do better than that," Parrott told the Gloucestershire Echo.

"I would hate for him to be beaten by some up-and-coming young buck next year. He's come out of the race absolutely fine, perfect. He's out in the paddock.

"The winning line just came in time on Saturday. He was in front for a long while and when they got to him he dug really deep.

"I was over the moon.

"He will have an honourable retirement. I owe it to him, he's been so good to me.

"Seeing him do so well has been lovely and Saturday has to be the highlight. I wanted to get a run into him before the Scottish National and he came out of Ascot fine. We gave him a little break and started again. He was spot on, better than ever.

"He has always been very, very good. Once we found out he had stomach ulcers and treated them, he has been brilliant the past three runs. He's been a different horse.

"I was never giving up on him. A lot of good horses lose their form. His Charlie Hall seconds were great and we have had a lot of fun over the years. He's won over £300,000.

"We are winding down and the place is on the market. Hopefully someone else will come along and train a National winner here. "