Keeping Masar in training was a risk worth taking - even if it backfired

News of Masar remaining in training at four brought more than a frisson of excitement to this season but his retirement underscores the perils that await such a valuable commodity during every extra step they take away from the breeding sheds.

It is likely that Sheikh Mohammed’s team felt a Group 1 win at four could elevate him above recent Derby winners, who either retired at three or, in the case of Ruler Of The World and Camelot, achieved later that season but failed to create much of an appendix as older horses. There was also the benefit of having an authentic Godolphin flagbearer, and some unfinished business as he had been injured after Epsom.

With some fallibility now exposed, Masar has dropped down the chain and is likely to receive fewer premium mares outside Darley circles. Yet life was not going to be easy anyway, such are the difficulties for any middle-distance stallion – barring Galileo – to attract kudos.