At least Ghostzapper gave fans one last race to remember.

The 2004 Horse of the Year was retired yesterday with an ankle injury, just two weeks after blazing to victory in the prestigious Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park.

The race ended up being Ghostzapper’s only start as a 5-year-old, and came five months after his previous race, when the son of Awesome Again won the Breeders’ Cup Classic in stakes and track record time at Lone Star Park.

“He went out the right way, in a good way,” Ghostzapper’s trainer, Bobby Frankel, said yesterday. “He did run that one good race this year and, if anything, it gave him more respect.”

As if he needed any. Ghostzapper will go down in history as one of racing’s most versatile stars. He won sprints, he won at a mile, and he won at the classic distance of 1 1/4 miles.

To some, it came as a surprise when he was voted Horse of the Year over popular Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Smarty Jones. But before the vote, Frankel called the choice a “no-brainer” based on Ghostzapper’s wide-ranging abilities.

“He handled any kind of racetrack, and you couldn’t take a race away from him,” Frankel said. “If they wanted to go too fast, he could come from last. If they were going slow, he’d go right to the lead. How do you beat a horse like that?”

Ghostzapper is headed to owner Frank Stronach’s Adena Springs Farm near Versailles, Ky., with nine victories in 11 starts and earnings of $3,446,120. The horse won his final six races, most of them with authority.

And just when talk was beginning about a showdown between racing’s newest star, Preakness and Belmont Stakes winner Afleet Alex, and its reigning champion, a barely detectable fracture put an end to talk of when the two would tangle.

The minor injury probably occurred during Ghostzapper’s 6 1/4 -length victory in the Met Mile, where the horse equaled the fourth-fastest time in 112 editions of the race. Frankel said X-rays did not spot the injury, but a nuclear scan found a “hot spot” around Ghostzapper’s sesamoid, two small bones located above and at the back of the ankle. The Hall of Fame trainer said Ghostzapper was walking around the barn like nothing happened.

“At least he’s going home in one piece,” Frankel said. “They didn’t have to cart him off, or something really bad happened to him.”

Ghostzapper’s victories include the Vosburgh Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs, the Woodward Stakes and the Iselin Handicap, both at 1 1/8 miles, and the Breeders’ Cup Classic at 1 1/4 miles.

Jack Brothers, director of sales and marketing for Adena Springs, said Ghostzapper was scheduled to be shipped to Churchill Downs from New York later this week and then be vanned to his new home.

“There’s nothing like going out on a high note,” Brothers said.

Ghostzapper’s stud fee has not yet been determined. Smarty Jones, standing at Three Chimneys Farm, commands a $100,000 stud fee.