The reputation Kementari retired with on Monday was vastly different to the one he crafted for himself five years earlier.
The eight-year-old son of Lonhro bowed out a crowd favourite, having turned himself around after a stint as a villainous gelding who had seemingly lost the ability to win during a 19-race streak that yielded no wins but eight minor placings.
That stretch ran either side of his first retirement, in March 2019, for what turned out to be a brief stint at stud owing to fertility issues, resulting in him being gelded and put back into work.
As a gelding, he won four times, giving him eight career victories from 49 starts with a further 14 minor placings helping him amass $4,791,625 in stakes.
There are so many chapters in his career it is easy to forget how good he was in the autumn of his three-year-old season.
He bounced back from his Caulfield Guineas defeat at the hands of $101 shot Mighty Boss in 2017 to string together a number of high-rating performances in Sydney in February and March 2018.
After registering a Timeform rating of 119 in his first-up win in the Group 3 Eskimo Prince Stakes, Kementari ran 123 when winning the Group 2 Hobartville Stakes, before going 125 to claim his first Group 1 in the Randwick Guineas.
That remains the highest-rating Randwick Guineas performance since it became a 1600m race in 2006.
It also gives Kementari the fourth-highest Timeform peak rating by a Godolphin Australia horse since James Cummings took over as head trainer of Sheikh Mohammed's operation at the start of the 2017 season.
He is equal with Avilius, who ran to 125 in his wins in the Group 1 Ranvet Stakes and Group 1 George Ryder Stakes.
Cummings' only Godolphin horses rated higher are Bivouac, who went 128 in his brilliant VRC Sprint Classic win, Hartnell, whose 128 peak figure came for John O'Shea but also ran to 127 twice for Cummings, and nine-time Group 1 winner Anamoe, whose peak number was 126.
Kementari's top performances by Timeform
125 – 2018 Randwick Guineas 1st
123 – 2018 Hobartville Stakes 1st, 2018 George Ryder Stakes 3rd
121 – 2018 Memsie Stakes 2nd, 2020 Star Kingdom Stakes 3rd
119 – 2018 Eskimo Prince Stakes 1st, 2022 Hall Mark Stakes 1st, 2022 Premiere Stakes 4th
118 – 2018 Missile Stakes 2nd
117 – 2018 Manikato Stakes 3rd, 2019 Orr Stakes 2nd, Theo Marks Stakes 5th
