Late on Thursday afternoon, Australian trainer Matt Laurie announced the retirement of his progressive five-year-old sprinter Alfa Oro.

A statement was released on Laurie's twitter account just prior to 6pm AEST.

“With sadness the decision has been made to retire our stable favourite Alfa Oro,” the statement read.

It went on to mention how Alfo Oro's rise through the grades last year saw him string together five consecutive wins, including victories at all three major metropolitan tracks in Melbourne, Victoria. Those triumphs at Flemington, Caulfield and Moonee Valley showed he was a sprinter on the rise and a force to be reckoned with as he reached the prime of his career.

The Bachelor Duke gelding was destined for higher honours on the track and would have had some chance of taking out a Group 1 race down the road, following a fourth-place finish in the Group 2 Caulfield Sprint last spring.

“He retires with a big motor that his body unfortunately wouldn't allow us to see,” the statement by Laurie said.

Questions had been raised over Alfa Oro's first two runs this campaign, as it was becoming noticeable at each start that he lacked the early speed out of the gates that he had become known for. He was last seen running fifth as a $3.40 favourite at Caulfield last weekend, the only track he was to ever finish outside of the top two before the decision to pull the pin on his racing career was made.

Alfa Oro retires with six wins from 10 starts after debuting on the Pakenham all-weather track back in July 2018. He earned his connections a touch over $240,000, which is what he cost at the New Zealand Ready to Run Sales in 2017.