Racing prepares us for disappointment - but this latest victory for the sport's superpowers is still depressing

Disappointment is a dreadful thing. You hate to see it on someone else's face and be reminded of that hollowness that comes from having allowed yourself to anticipate some happy thing which then utterly fails to turn up.

Fortunately, I've had 40 years of hanging around horseracing to build up a tolerance for that sinking feeling. Cybrandian couldn't hold on to the lead that time they ran the Gold Cup in the snow and Maljimar got reeled in as well and so did What's Up Boys (in the National, I mean – no, I wasn't on him for the Hennessy or the Coral Cup, but thanks for asking).

And then there are all those times when you spot a great ante-post price about a horse and watch with mounting glee as the weeks pass by and it shortens from 40-1 to 6-4. When your shrewdness has been proved to yourself over such an extended period, victory can begin to seem like a foregone conclusion and the only reasonable outcome. But those horses never win, unless you laid off at 16s, in which case they hack up, leaving you to rue such cowardly behaviour.