That jump-racing's self-consciously tough face fronts a vast amount of sentiment has rarely been more apparent than following Sprinter Sacre's tumultuous regaining of the Queen Mother Champion Chase crown at Cheltenham.
If in his 2013 pomp, the finest two-mile chaser of his, or most any other generation, provoked adulation at the sight of a great horse doing what he did best, at his best, the Sprinter Sacre of 2016 inspired overwhelming affection.
It’s the oldest of sports stories, the former hero coming back for one more crack at the title, and the fact the fairy-tale result rarely happens makes those rarities even more intoxicating.
Rarely has a major sporting area drunk so freely from such a pitch-perfect climax as this. Tears were cried by many more than his lachrymose trainer Nicky Henderson and if some of the scenes and commentary flirted with anthropomorphic indulgence it was at least reassuringly pan-national.
"Who says they never come back?" asked Willie Mullins, trainer of the odds-on runner up Un De Sceaux. "To be beaten by Sprinter Sacre is no shame, and it is a fantastic performance by Nicky Henderson to get the horse back like that."
It was a remarkably generous tribute in the circumstances by the man who saddled his fourth winner of the week with Yorkhill in the Neptune and is remorselessly closing in on Henderson’s record tally of 55 festival winners.
If Sprinter Sacre defied the odds by overcoming two years of injury, heart-problems and widespread suspicion that he was busted flush at the absolute top level, the suspicion must also be he picked up some of that dogged persistence from his trainer.
Henderson has admitted both that his festival record is very important to him, and that Mullins will inevitably overcome it, probably sooner rather than later. But behind the public school accent, this most English and establishment of figures doesn’t lose anything without a fight.
Because Henderson knows better than anyone how jump racing can often be very tough indeed: proof of that on the day came when the beaten Irish favourite for the RSA Chase, No More Heroes, was taken to veterinary hospital fighting for his life after sustaining a serious tendon injury.
His trainer Gordon Elliott won the very next race, the Coral Cup, with Diamond King and said: “While it doesn’t look good for No More Heroes we’re hopeful he’ll be OK. It’s very unfortunate and then you have a winner - that’s the highs and lows of racing.”
Sprinter Sacre’s fragility has tested Henderson’s talent more than most in the last three years but vindication was sweet for a master professional who saddled My Tent Or Yours to finish runner up in Tuesday’s Champion Hurdle after a 700 day absence.
“I said if Sprinter and Tent both won, I’d retire but luckily Tent got beaten!” joked the 65 year old Englishman.
“Sprinter’s been a very special horse. We had two golden years when he was unbeatable, then two horrible years, and now we have this resurrection, which is what it is. There’s something about a dethroned king coming back, because it is tough to do: age creeps up on all of us,” he added.
Jockey Nico De Boinville has ridden Sprinter Sacre in all his work, including when Barry Geraghty rode the horse in races, and he said: “He is not far off the Sprinter of 2013. This is definitely his achievement. I’m just grateful the guv’nor is training both the horse and me.”
Faster ground conditions were blamed by the Un De Sceaux camp for the 4-6 favourite's defeat with Ruby Walsh reporting: "Mine didn't have the speed on the ground and Sprinter Sacre had more gears in the end."
Yorkhill proved far too strong for the home favourite Yanwoth in the Neptune but him and Diamond King apart it was a frustrating Day 2 for the Irish raiders.
Mullins’s Shaneshill was ultimately denied in the RSA by the Nigel Twiston-Davies trained Blacklion and the local trainer also edged out Mullins in the Wetherbys Champion Bumper as Ballyandy beat Battleford by a nose.
Britain's champion trainer Paul Nicholls saddled a 1-2 in the Fred Winter Hurdle with Diego Du Charmil just holding on from Romain De Senam, but only after the Irish contenders, Voix De Reve and Campeador took crashing falls at the final flight.
Ultimately it will be remembered primarily for Sprinter Sacre’s plucking at the heartstrings of the Cheltenham crowd.
“This horse has got that charisma which makes this so special. He built his own atmosphere today. It was Sprinter Sacre’s way of saying thank you: and I’m saying thank you to a very special horse,” said Henderson.
It sounds schmaltzy in cold print but the 2016 Queen Mother Champion Chase really was a case of having to be there.
