Co-owners Jay Hanley and Sol Kumin plans to send the daughter of Divine Park to War Front.

Lady Eli was entered in the 2017 Keeneland sale after finishing seventh in the G1 Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf but had to be withdrawn due to lacerations and a puncture wound suffered in that race.

Kumin said the partnership had considered racing Lady Eli again with trainer Chad Brown in 2018.

“Honestly, It was a hard decision,” Kumin said. “We went back and forth. Recently, we thought we should send her back to Chad with no pressure and just see what happens.

“We were pretty sure she could do it but at end of day we just felt like she had done enough and that we did not want to risk anything happening to her after everything she had been through.”

Lady Eli retires with a record of 10 wins from 14 starts and nine stakes victories.

She won five G1 and $US2,959,800 after she overcame a bout of laminitis that hit her after her win in the G1 Belmont Oaks in 2015 while still unbeaten.

Lady Eli returned after more than 13 months on the sidelines due to the laminitis, suffering her first career loss when second in the 2016 G2 Ballston Spa at Saratoga.

However she back to her best at her next start when she won the GI Flower Bowl Invitational and came back as a 5YO in 2017 to win her first three starts including the G1 Gamely Stakes and G1 Diana Stakes.

Hanley said that the decision to breed to War Front is a good fit for Lady Eli as the mare did her running on the grass and War Front is among the best turf sires in North America.