IF there is one moniker in racing over the past five years which has set my teeth on edge more than any other, it’s the once-ubiquitous “Faugheen The Machine”, an almost meaningless phrase which for a while passed not just as a nickname for the outstanding hurdler, but almost as a substitute for meaningful analysis of his achievements.

Every idiot came out with it as if was some pearl of wisdom from the ancients themselves, and it probably served as an icebreaker at awkward parties across Ireland when no-one could think of something witty or interesting to say. While Arkle inspired prose from Brendan Behan, and paeans of praise from Oxbridge-educated scribes, all the mighty Faugheen seemed to inspire was this polished turd of pseudo praise.

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That we seemed constantly tripped up by the nickname made it harder to appreciate the deeds Faugheen produced on the track, and like Hurricane Fly before him, he was often accused of beating the same old suspects on the track. For Solwhit and Thousand Stars, read Nichols Canyon and Jezki, but just as Solwhit proved himself a champion when out of Hurricane Fly’s shadow, so did the ill-fated Nichols Canyon at Cheltenham last year.

It’s not surprising that a nation of horse lovers should be suspicious of machines, and Faugheen’s metronomic victories failed to inspire devotion outside of his circle. It’s bizarre to think that Hurricane Fly once evoked a similar disdain among the dissident English, but even the most cynical came to warm to him when he achieved the rare feat of regaining the Champion Hurdle, and only those with a heart of stone could watch his fifth win in the Irish Champion Hurdle without feeling the need to wipe an eye.

POPULARITY

What made Hurricane Fly so popular, and underlined his undeniable greatness, wasn’t the level of form he showed at his best, but his ability to keep coming back to that peak, especially when it became clear that he was often no better than his contemporaries, but with a bloody-minded determination to save nothing for himself and hurl himself at hurdles in a way no other horse in the modern era could.

He was, in effect, the opposite of a machine; he was the living embodiment of all that lovers of horseracing have come to cherish in a champion, all heart, sinew and outstretched neck, a horse who refused to shrink back in the face of faster rivals or the ravages of time. No machine can match those attributes.

So Faugheen was praised to the skies, but strangely unloved, his apparent invincibility both his greatest asset and his achilles heel.

An injury after his most perfect performance at Leopardstown in January 2016 robbed him of the chance to defend his Champion Hurdle crown and write his name alongside the other dual winners of the Cheltenham contest, and ensured he would never match The Fly’s incredible tally of Grade 1 wins.

COMEBACK

Even a remarkable comeback win after nearly two years off failed to produce universal appreciation, his fans expecting no less and his detractors able to scoff again (Jezki, eh? Right you are). It took the tide to turn for Faugheen to gain a groundswell of sympathy, and then it was more pity for a fallen idol than genuine love.

A creditable second in the Irish Champion was flanked by clunking efforts at Leopardstown and Cheltenham, and the once-glittering machine was seemingly tarnished beyond repair.

Oddly, however, his vulnerability broke something in us.

The old moniker was no longer apposite, and the image of the ageing son of Germany as a precision-engineered monster became risible.

A 22-length drubbing in the Champion where he was reduced to wearing cheekpieces showed he wasn’t a machine after all, but just a poor, struggling, mortal horse.

That feeling might have been niggling at Willie Mullins for most of the season, and watching him work moderately last week prompted thoughts of ignominious retirement. But then came Punchestown.

It doesn’t matter what the catalyst for his return to form was, merely that it happened on such a stage, and and the response to Faugheen’s all-the-way win in the Champion Stayers Hurdle was unlike any reception he had received for similar big-race wins.