Tough stayer On A Jeune has run his last race and has been retired.

The South Australian eight-year-old, a son of Melbourne Cup winner Jeune, has raced in four Melbourne Cups but failed to emulate his sire.

He did go close though, finishing runner-up behind Makybe Diva at his second try in 2005. He had run 11th the previous year and 20th and sixth at the following two runnings.

The gelding has had a number of trainers but most recently with Barry Dunn at Strathalbyn, where he was on the trail of a fifth Melbourne Cup but didn't quite make it.

He has had only two runs this campaign, the latest being 11th in the Moonee Valley Cup behind Gallopin.

The tough galloper has been treated with kid gloves over the last few years with niggling issues but has succumb and will now spend his days enjoying retirement.

His biggest career successes were the Geelong and Cranbourne Cups and the Hill Smith Stakes, but his career highlights, aside from his Melbourne Cup second, were also a second in the SA Derby and placings in the Bendigo and Benalla Cups.

In all On A Jeune started 54 times for seven wins, 12 placings and over $1.2 million in prizemoney.

He is set to make one final racetrack appearance, in April next year, when leading out the field of the Streaky Bay Cup, the hometown of part-owner Phillip McEvoy, father of leading rider Kerrin.