But by the end of race four - after he was suspended for interference in the first, thrown out of the saddle and scratched from the second, and fading to sixth in the fourth - Sweeney sauntered into the jockeys' room that had been his sanctuary for 46 years.

"The boys got a shock when I said, 'that's it boys, this is my last day'," Sweeney said. "A few of them tried to talk me out of it; if I was going to finish they wanted me to finish at Canberra.

"I enjoyed the camaraderie of the jockeys' room, that's the bit I'll miss most. We'll belt each other in a race, then come back and have a laugh together.

"But I thought that day was telling me something ... when Steve Waugh retired [from cricket] he said 'it just comes overnight' and that's pretty well what happened with me."

Sweeney couldn't tell you the statistics of his career, which began in 1969 when his single mum dragged her 15-year-old truant son by his sizeable ears to the Randwick stables of Reg Cook. At best guess, he's had more than 11,000 rides for about 1300 winners.

But numbers never mattered to Sweeney, who relocated to Canberra in 1971, and had begun to hear talk about whether he was washed up.

"Up until last Sunday there were people saying I was over the hill and things like that," Sweeney said. "Then I went to Wagga on Sunday and rode three winners, two in feature races, so I got a chance to throw a bit of mud in their face.

"There's always doubters and knockers when you get to a certain age. If you're having a bit of a lean trot, they want to throw about your age and say you're over the hill.

"It happens in every sport. I don't know what age has got to do with anything, it's come down to performance. In a jockey's case, if you're not getting the right horses you're not going to be riding winners.

"It's a bit like Jimmy Cassidy. He's been flat out getting a ride, people are saying he can't match it with others at 52. Then the next thing he comes out and wins the Sydney Cup. You need the cattle to do it with."

Sweeney says he has no regrets, even though it wasn't meant to end this way.

He'd been targeting a win at the Wagga Town Plate later this month, a race in which he's finished second five times.

But a suspension at Nowra - which he says was justified - wiped him out for the Wagga meeting.

"I always wanted to win a Town Plate. I had the ride of a promising horse named Got The Goss and I thought it could win it, it was my best chance yet. Unfortunately it's not going to be it. I'm not getting any younger."

"[The suspension] was warranted. The worst part was I picked up the ride. I shouldn't have even been on the horse, that's the part that hurts ... I'm dirty on myself, but not bitter about the suspension at all, I've got no regrets throughout my career."

Sweeney has known nothing else but being a jockey and admits he still doesn't know how to be anything else. On his first day of retirement he joined his stable peers for a pub lunch in Canberra.

He was overwhelmed by the tributes coming in from the industry, including group 1-winning jockeys Tommy Berry, Kathy O'Hara and Jay Ford.

"The only time it ever felt like a job was when I was sitting in a hot bath, trying to lose a kilo," said Sweeney, who would treat himself to a Kit-Kat before every race meeting.

"I'll sit down and contemplate it in the next few days when the dust settles, to see what eventuates for the rest of life," Sweeney said.

"There's no coming back now, I feel very comfortable with the decision."