A quiet Tuesday morning plummeted downhill with the news that Kauto Star, three years into what should have been a long and happy retirement, had been seriously injured after a fall in his paddock and had been put down.

The headlines and racing TV channels spent the day going back over the great races of his eight season career. Even on a sad occasion, it was marvellous to view again the might of the greatest chaser of the last 40 years in his finest hours, trained and ridden by two of the best in the business of getting the best out of jump horses, Paul Nicholls and Ruby Walsh.