Why I'm hoping Altior can silence the critics for good

I knew it was coming the moment it became clear Altior wasn't going to peg back Nube Negra at Kempton last week. Sure enough, Nicky Henderson's legend had barely crossed the line and there it was: "I hope they retire him. He has nothing left to prove."

This half-witted statement, made by many on social media last weekend, first drove me mad a few years ago after Quevega's annual win in the Mares' Hurdle at Cheltenham led to calls for her to be retired to the paddocks for no good reason, and is now wheeled out every time a great horse suffers a rare defeat – or even, as was the case with Quevega, when they've just claimed another wonderful victory.

No-one wants to see horses kept going when they would clearly rather be doing something else or have lost all signs of ability, but that was clearly not the case with Altior.