The breeding barn beckons for one of Otago's leading mares after a tendon injury last week.
Include pulled up sore after a gallop on Wednesday as she was preparing for Saturday's Canterbury Gold Cup, and was scratched.
Scans revealed a bad tear to a tendon in the off fore leg. It has prompted owners Wayne and Karen Stewart to retire her after a brief - but outstanding - career of 16 starts, which yielded 10 wins and $186,095 in prize money.
''You could bring them back and patch them up, but being a mare and all that, she's got more value as a broodmare - you don't want to take the risk, really,'' Wayne Stewart said.
''She always tried her hardest - that's why those good ones break down. She was a good, genuine mare. She gave us some great thrills and to have a horse even good enough to line up in group 1s and to give you an opportunity to have a go at them [was great].''
As a 3yr old, Include won the Dunedin and Southland Guineas at listed level, along with a third in the listed Warstep Stakes, but she blossomed as a 4yr old.
The daughter of Gallant Guru won four races through the grades, including a Southland Stakes victory, before dispatching a quality field of mares in the listed South Island Breeders Stakes at Riccarton last month.
She put in a brave run for sixth in the group 1 New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders' Stakes at Te Aroha on April 4, in what would turn out to be her last run.
''The best was probably to come,'' Stewart said.
''Just the way she improved from a 3yr old to a 4yr old - you think she would have [improved] again, but that's the way it goes.
''She's bucking and squealing around the paddock - you wouldn't think there was anything wrong with her if you didn't know. She's not lame or anything like that.''
The Stewarts will now weigh up the stallion options for Include as she lets down towards becoming a mother.
