LEADING four-year-old filly Espumanti (GB) has been retired from racing following the 2014 Vodacom Durban July, in which she over-raced and pulled up lame afterwards.

Mike de Kock said on Wednesday: “Espumanti returned very lame, she wasn’t comfortable at all following the running of the July and after consulting with her owner Mary Slack we decided that now would be the right time to retire her.

“Espumanti distinguished herself as a top quality filly, she brought all of us much pleasure and we’re confident that her offspring will inherit her class and talent.”

Espumanti, by Dansili from Jouet, started her racing career in April 2012 and raced 17 times for six wins (1160m -1900m) and six places. She reeled off a hat-trick of early wins and then acquitted herself well in Graded company over the next two years.

Espumanti won two Grade 2 races, the most recent of which saw an easy victory over Punta Arenas in the Greyville 1900. She was Gr1-placed three times, including a second to superstar Beach Beauty in the 2012 Garden Province Stakes. She retires an equine millionaire and will join Slack’s formidable broodmare band at Wilgerbosdrift Stud.