DESPITE the Cheltenham Festival providing great success and largely a triumphant few days for horse racing, there has been some negativity filtering through in the last week.

The death of Envoi Allen after the Gold Cup was of course seized upon. Then the banning of greyhound racing in Wales and Scotland was considered another small step in ‘they’ll come for racing next’ fears.

The banning of greyhound racing was seen as a worrying development, but I’m not convinced there is the same public attachment to both sports, even in Ireland. Yes, the basic ‘antis’ argument is the same, we are using animals for entertainment (and the gambling element will always be pulled in) and they run the risk of injury and death.

But a surprisingly large turn-out at Kempton on Wednesday night to see Constitution Hill, should have given heart that we are not fully in the same arena as greyhound racing.

People do still want to go see a good horse race. It’s in the public light for a good reason, one that greyhound racing never came close to.

This week, we lost another hugely talented horse, long before we had seen the best of him and before he had gained a big following. We simply don’t know how good Sir Gino could have been, as his best days were in front of him.

Upsetting incidents

The loss to those who were close to him was evident in Nicky Henderson’s comments at Kempton. And Henderson more than any knows that there are upsetting incidents on and off the track when you make a living and become attached to these animals.

Sir Gino’s initial injury, an infected leg wound that deteriorated rapidly into infection, that kept him off the track for almost a year, was suffered away from the track. After winning the Fighting Fifth and then his brilliant debut over fences at Kempton in 2024, Sir Gino was ruled out of the Arkle Chase at the Cheltenham Festival when it was announced by Henderson that he would miss the remainder of the season due to injury.

The infection had invaded Sir Gino’s ligaments in his hind leg, and he required lengthy treatment.

While he recovered to race again, his more recent injury was not in a fall and could have occurred anywhere.

Henderson knows how even healthy, well looked after horses have issues, and not necessarily to do with racetrack injuries.

He has weathered many storms with good horses. Sprinter Sacre also missed time due to physical issues, while Champion Chase winner Altior was treated for a breathing complaint.

More recently, Shishkin flopped in the Champion Chase at the 2022 Cheltenham Festival, and was found to be suffering from an extremely rare bone condition.

And a year later, Shishkin was put down after fracturing a hind leg while cast in his stable in April 2024.

Even in retirement, Altior had to undergo two major operations as a result of colic in 2023, with Henderson remarking at the time that he wasn’t sure whether he would recover.

Going even further back, another talented Henderson-trained horse Spirit Son, second to Al Ferof in the 2011 Supreme Novices’ when Sprinter Sacre was third and Cue Card fourth, first suffered from a tendon problem and later required surgery to a complicated life-threatening fracture of his neck.

Tests showed he had a rare virus that attacks the neurological system.

So, where horse care is a current debate, it’s not a picture to indicate that the racetrack is solely where all the bad stuff occurs.

THERE were two big questions on Thursday morning. How good is Constitution Hill on the flat? And. Why does Albert Einstein now need a race, since the plan a week ago was to go straight to Newmarket? Did he bolt on the gallops since?!

Someone posted an Albert Einstein quote on X on Thursday when the Guineas favourite was declared to run at the Curragh. “The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.”

So Aidan O’Brien and the Ballydoyle team have certainly changed track in a week. Stats show that the O’Brien Guineas record over the years since the three in a row from 2017 to 2019 by Churchill, Saxon Warrior and Magna Grecia is 0 from 13 runners. And his 10 2000 Guineas winners had not had a previous run. And not only is Albert Einstein running, with Ryan Moore on board, he is in a pretty competitive contest. It will be interesting to see how Guineas betting may react.

Where next for Constitution Hill? Opinions differed on his Wednesday win. A question by journalist Francis Keogh on X on how people felt on the performance, it brought the response: Brilliant - 8.9%; Job Done - 73.3%; Unsure - 10.9%; Disappointing - 6.9%.

The RaceiQ drone footage showed just how potent Constitution Hill’s turn of foot was. His splits for the final three furlongs were 11.72sec, 11.17sec and 11.97sec. But in comparison, one of the fastest over the course and distance was the Group 1 winner Kalpana in the 2024 September Stakes, who ran her final two furlongs in 10.88 and 11.43secs.

Whatever next, he is guaranteed to pull in a bigger crowd.