OF course, the downer of the week was Alpha Centauri’s racing career-ending injury.

They packed deep at Leopardstown to see the Niarchos family’s strapping grey filly. They lined the length of the pre-parade ring’s rail just to see her being saddled. Most would not have backed her, but they still willed her home.

Laurens was gutsy, and she provided a measure of Karl Burke’s ability as a trainer, returning, as she was, from an abject performance in the Yorkshire Oaks over a mile and a half, dropping all the way back to a mile and winning another Group 1. The Matron Stakes can now go on the mantelpiece beside the Fillies’ Mile and the Prix Saint-Alary and the Prix de Diane. That’s four Group 1 prizes that John Dance’s filly has landed.

However, Alpha Centauri’s defeat took the wind out of the day’s sails. There was a sense of mild incredulity afterwards. Then the news seeped out that she was found to be clinically abnormal after the race, so at least you had a reason. It wasn’t until that evening that we learned that she would not race again.

Colm O’Donoghue and Jessica Harrington and her team were characteristically pragmatic afterwards, choosing to focus on the journey that they have travelled with Alpha Centauri. A first classic, a first Royal Ascot winner, a Royal Ascot track record, four Group 1 races on the spin. She is a horse of a lifetime. The goal now is to find another.