How the mighty have fallen - has any champion lost their love for jumping quite like Constitution Hill?

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Since about 2.01pm on Saturday, I've been trying to think of a champion whose jumping fell apart as suddenly and completely as Constitution Hill's has done. So far, no luck - if any of you with longer or better memories than me can come up with a name, please email to the usual address.

I've learned a couple of amazing things while musing on this subject. Peter Scudamore pointed me towards Master Milan, who, while a novice chaser in the 1979-80 season, managed to fall in seven consecutive appearances.

Fences were stiffer, of course - at some tracks, anyway. I really think you might be struggling to find a jockey, these days, to climb aboard such a horse after the fourth or fifth consecutive fall, assuming the BHA allowed you to keep running him.

But, in the age of deference, you just touched your cap and said: "Yes, guv'nor, thanks for thinking of me..." and made sure your affairs were in order. Fearless Eamon McIntyre (7) was the regular rider booked by Arthur Stephenson for Master Milan, though Geordie Dun was aboard for at least one occasion during the horse's calamitous run.

He doesn't seem to have attracted much publicity, beyond the odd short article, musing whether he was "about to set some sort of record". Finally, he completed the course in the April of his novice season. Next time, he officially became a winner over fences ... thanks to a walkover at Newcastle.

Beech Road: the 1989 Champion Hurdle winner

The other amazing thing I stumbled across was this report from October 1891 in the Dublin Sporting News: "Very seldom is such a farcical race witnessed as the Stewards' Plate at Mullingar yesterday. The winner, Daisy, fell three times and won nevertheless."

That, it could be argued, puts Constitution Hill's travails in context. Daisy fell as many times in that one race as he has done in his entire career. I suppose she must have ended up with a '1' in her form figures, which seems misleading.

Hoping for something more recent and more relevant, I looked at the records of Champion Hurdle winners. I didn't expect to see many 'F's in their form but perhaps there might be others who had similar problems at one time or another, whose example might be illuminating.

It turns out that Constitution Hill really is an outlier. Since the Racing Post's online form database began collecting results in 1988, no other champ has had as many falls over hurdles in their entire career as he has had this year.

It's important to say "over hurdles" because Beech Road had four falls over fences and three unseats, one of which came in a hurdle race. One of those falls, in a novice chase at Cheltenham in January 1989, was the reason he was sent back over hurdles and ended up springing a 50-1 shock at the festival.

I found five Champion Hurdle winners who fell twice: State Man, Rooster Booster, Istabraq, Granville Again and Celtic Shot. But their tumbles were blended into their careers, they weren't consecutive and they didn't lead to the soul-searching we're seeing just now.

The closest example - and not a very close one - was Istabraq. He was about to turn nine, a month older than Constitution Hill is now, when he fell for the first time, at Leopardstown's final flight on New Year's Eve. It looked a tired fall on heavy ground when he was struggling to assert over two rivals alongside.

Four months later, he seemed to have Moscow Flyer comfortably held when he fell again at the same obstacle. "Now his jumping has to be regarded as susceptible and there must be a danger that any further fall would affect his confidence," our analyst wrote.

Though he won again at Leopardstown the next December, Istabraq was well below his best in so doing, and his only run after that was when pulled up at Cheltenham as a ten-year-old. But jumping didn't seem to be the issue by then. As far as I can remember, the feeling was that he'd had enough and was finally paying for all his magnificent efforts.

Another seven champs had a single fall during their careers, including some memorable recent examples like Buveur D'Air and Annie Power. Their tumbles came at Cheltenham in March, in the most tense and challenging conditions a racehorse can face.

Hardy Eustace: never fell

Quite impressively (or so it now seems), there have been many champion hurdlers who never fell in their whole careers. Hardy Eustace ran 41 times over hurdles and finished every race. Jezki ran 35 times over hurdles and his only non-completion was when he was pulled up on heavy going.

The net of all this is that I can't see a precedent for a top hurdler having such a sustained problem with the obstacles. It follows that there's no precedent for a top hurdler shaking off such a problem. Not in the last 37 years, anyway.

I'm afraid we may have seen the last of Constitution Hill over hurdles. Who wants to watch him try it again? Not me, and I think, in the end, those close to him will feel the same way.

I like the idea of trying him on the Flat. I don't imagine he'll be winning any Group 1s as a nine-year-old but he can pick up some prizes and give everyone some fun.

His jumps career was amazing and there are lots of good days to remember. But it must be over because I'm quite looking forward to hearing that "time to draw stumps" announcement from his connections, and I don't think I've ever felt that about a jumps horse before.

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