Royal Descent, a mainstay of trainer Chris Waller’s formidable team of Group I stars, has been retired.

The winner of five races and more than $2.7 million in prizemoney, Royal Descent suffered a minor tendon injury while being prepared for the Sydney autumn carnival.

“A decision was made to retire her immediately as opposed to giving her a spell and preparing her for a campaign in the spring,” Waller said.

Owner Gerry Harvey will send the ATC Australian Oaks winner to New Zealand to be mated with emerging sire Swiss Ace.

Royal Descent posted one of Australian racing’s most emphatic Group I wins when she claimed the 2013 Oaks at Randwick by 10 lengths from Dear Demi, the VRC Oaks winner raced by Harvey’s close friend John Singleton.

It was the first of her 18 Group I starts and she was placed another eight times at racing’s top level, including narrow defeats in the Doncaster Mile and Epsom Handicap. She bows out of racing after finishing down the course in the Myer Stakes during a spring carnival in which she won the Warwick Stakes and was narrowly beaten by stablemate Preferment in the Group I Turnbull Stakes.- The Australian