THE rumblings of another horse welfare debate almost began earlier in the week after it emerged in that the popular chaser Big Fella Thanks had not recovered from an injury he sustained in a hunter chase at Cheltenham in early May. He had been put down after running in five races last season as a 15-year-old.

The real issue seemed to be that the death was not made known at the time, implying some sort of concealment, and therefore guilt.

Thankfully, it didn’t gather too much air. It would be difficult to prove that a 15-year-old was more prone to a fatal leg injury than young stars like Fayonagh or Lucky Pass.

A ban on horses racing after a certain age was suggested by some but, ironically, it has been a very good week for older horses.

Far from banning a fit and enthusiastic horse, let the owners and trainers decide. It is they who will feel it the hardest if anything happens, and are surely best placed to decide if racing is asking a horse to do too much.

There is little to be gained by forcing a horse to jump obstacles if he is no longer fit to do it.

There have been some noteworthy performances by older horses over the last weeks, and none more so than the Madden family’s 10-year-old Shake The Bucket who was in the winner’s enclosure again at Dundalk on Wednesday night, after literally getting his nose in front for the 13th time on his 93rd run.

It came a week after Maarek had won his 14th race at the age of 10 on his 75th run, while 13-year-old Tomcoole Lad ran away with the handicap chase at Galway on Monday, to gain his second win of the season, showing his best form.

Shake The Bucket has achieved the noteworthy feat of winning at every discipline of Irish racing. He was third in his first point-to-point in 2011 before winning (sharing a dead-heat) for the first time at Dromahane in a four-year-old maiden that May.

He has won over hurdles, fences and nine times on the all-weather on the flat at Dundalk.

Of similar character is Ado McGuinness’ Bubbly Bellini who is now 10 and has run in 140 races and still going strong with his 19th win at Fairyhouse in September.

Over fences at Galway we also had another win from Kylecrue, who now could be called a veteran at 10.

However, a few years back, a 10-year-old was not yet called a veteran and, as his trainer John Ryan pointed out, he was six when he made his debut so he was a mature horse when he raced and there are not that many miles on the clock.

The current trend is to race horses over fences at a younger age than 10 years ago, which can make it look as if 12-year-olds have been racing for years and years.

Last week’s popular winner Smad Place has run at seven Cheltenham Festivals, a veteran almost, but is still well able to compete against decent class opposition.

Once a horse is showing a decent level of form, in his own division, there seems little reason why he should not be let continue and no need to be bringing in any bans for the veterans.