For many of us this is the week of weeks, the Cheltenham National Hunt Festival, and on Tuesday the great mare Lossiemouth won the Champion hurdle. The even bigger story than her victory, however, is that of a horse which did not run called Constitution Hill. Having won 10 straight races and delivered some of the greatest performances of any National Hunt horse in history, including winning a Champion Hurdle so easily he could have pulled a cart to victory, he hit a wall, or, more accurately, three hurdles. 

Twice last spring, at Cheltenham and Aintree, he had crashing, crowd-silencing falls. In November, thousands of us headed to Newcastle to see his seasonal debut, but he only got to the second hurdle where again he took a sickening fall. It seemed as if no one in the record crowd drew breath until he rose and galloped off, thankfully unharmed, leaving his jockey, Nico de Boinville, hurt and bewildered on the turf.

So loved is this horse, and so appalling the thought that he might be seriously injured or worse now that he seemed incapable of jumping a hurdle, retirement seemed the only option. His veteran trainer Nicky Henderson, however, had other ideas and decided to run him in a Flat race in February, despite the fact that he is nine years old and Flat horses start racing at two or possibly three years of age. His opponents had shown some decent form, but as Constitution Hill came into the home straight his jockey, the great Oisin Murphy – who had begged Henderson for the ride – let him fly. In a matter of strides he cruised into the lead and ran away from the field, winning by nearly 10 lengths with Murphy barely moving on his back.

It was a stunning and unreal performance and he was cheered from the finish to the winner’s enclosure where the inevitable question was immediately put to Henderson: “What is he going to do next?”. Here lay the conundrum, because the public’s attitude towards animals and their welfare is so conflicted and hypocritical that that decision was almost impossible. On the one hand, returning to Cheltenham and winning the Champion Hurdle – which he would surely have done if he could have jumped just eight small hurdles – would complete one of the greatest sporting redemption stories ever told. On the other, were he to fall again – and this time not get up – the reaction would have been uncontrollable and threatened the very future of the sport that Constitution Hill was bred to compete in.

Nicky Henderson decided not to run Constitution Hill on Tuesday, which may have been the bravest decision of a long and brilliant career. He understood the risks and the possibility of an emotional backlash so great that it could have been the catalyst for a ban on National Hunt racing, the sport which he loves and which loves him. That was a choice that the rest of us were lucky enough not to have to make, but one which understood that we cannot ignore shifting public attitudes towards the use and care of animals.