Weekend Hussler, the outstanding galloper who has run his last race, has been described as a once-in-a-lifetime horse.In paying the ultimate tribute to one of the genuine modern-day stars of the Australian turf, jockey Brad Rawiller said: "I'll never get on one like him again."Rawiller was on board Weekend Hussler in all but one of the Ross McDonald-trained galloper's 12 victories."I just think he was one-in-a-million," Rawiller said."I still get people who aren't into racing who want to talk to

Weekend Hussler, the outstanding galloper who has run his last race, has been described as a once-in-a-lifetime horse.

In paying the ultimate tribute to one of the genuine modern-day stars of the Australian turf, jockey Brad Rawiller said: "I'll never get on one like him again."

Rawiller was on board Weekend Hussler in all but one of the Ross McDonald-trained galloper's 12 victories.

"I just think he was one-in-a-million," Rawiller said.

"I still get people who aren't into racing who want to talk to me about Weekend Hussler.

"It is a great thrill to be associated with a horse as good as him."

Weekend Hussler, humbled when out of a place at his first start at a country Victorian racetrack, quickly rose through the ranks to become Australia's best thoroughbred on the back of a spectacular 2007-08.

Now a six-year-old, Weekend Hussler was one run into a comeback after spending most of the past two seasons sidelined because of injury.

He bows out of racing after finishing 10th to sprint star Hay List in the Gilgai Stakes at Flemington earlier this month.

His exit from racing is in stark contrast to when he burst onto the scene in 2007 as a spring three-year-old.

As racing in NSW and Queensland was left reeling from the outbreak of equine influenza, Weekend Hussler started his rise to the top with emphatic Group One wins in the Caulfield Guineas and Ascot Vale Stakes.

Weekend Hussler returned as an even more formidable racehorse the following autumn as he stretched his Group One sequence with wins in the Oakleigh Plate, Newmarket Handicap, Randwick Guineas and George Ryder Stakes.

"Every one of his Group Ones wins was special but the George Ryder Stakes was the most amazing of his wins because that was the day where the horse was at his absolute best," Rawiller said.

"There were no problems with him that day. It was the day where everything fell into place and he beat a terrific weight-for-age horse (Racing To Win) really easily."

Named Australian horse-of-the-year in 2008, Weekend Hussler was trained as a stayer in the spring of that year but after winning the Underwood Stakes he could finish only 12th in the Caulfield Cup.

Weekend Hussler raced only four more times as he tried to recapture his three-year-old form.

The decision to retire Weekend Hussler came after McDonald had concerns a fetlock injury could flare into a long-term issue if the seven-time Group One winner was kept in work.

After costing $80,000 as a yearling, Weekend Hussler returned $3 million in stakes.