Ramruma, the winner of last year`s Oaks, has been retired, after being defeated at Ascot today.
Henry Cecil`s charge was a well-beaten third behind Riyafa in the Riggs Bank Harvest Stakes.
'She has run very well, though the soft ground did not help,' said her owner-breeder Prince Fahd Salman.
'But I am not making any excuses and I think that the right thing to do now is to retire her to stud.
'She pulled a muscle earlier in the year and she ran very well when she was third in the Yorkshire Oaks last time out. I wanted to do the sporting thing and keep her in training as a four-year-old as I love my racing.
'She gave me my best moment in racing when she won the Oaks last year even though I was not able to be there. It was all the more so special as she is home-bred and she has given me so much pleasure.'
Ramruma won more than £500,000 in prize money and added the Irish Oaks and Yorkshire Oaks to her glorious triumph at Epsom.
Shewas a valiant second in the St Leger on her last outing of the 1999 campaign.
Unfortunately the decision to keep Ramruma going at four backfired with the filly failing in three outings this year.
But Salman added: 'So much of the fun is in racing your horses and if the same thing happens to me again I expect that I would again keep a filly like her in training as a four-year-old.'
Plans are undecided but Ramruma may well visit top stallion Sadler`s Wells next year. -PA
