Strike while the iron is hot. Exhibit A, evermore, will be the brilliant but injury blighted Coneygree.

The Bradstocks finally gave up the unequal struggle with the 2015 Cheltenham Gold Cup hero at Ascot on Saturday - announcing his retirement after he was pulled up in the Keltbray Swinley Chase

Throughout the first half of the contest he jumped with much of his old brio at the head of affairs under his old pal, Nico de Boinville, but a multitude of niggling setbacks and injuries have clearly taken their toll.

Watch how Coneygree won the Gold Cup in 2015

He looked, as the saying goes, a light of former days as he drifted back through the field. De Boinville pulled him up with two fences still to be jumped and Coneygree's retirement was announced soon after.

“Wear and tear and injuries have just got the better of him now, so we’ll call it a day,” an emotional Sara Bradstock said. “I’m only sad because he still loves it. He still thinks he’s a racehorse.

“You could see all the way round, instead of being able to cruise round, he was trying. He is a complete miracle, and he is still here – that is the most important thing.”

Thank goodness the Bradstocks – Sara and Mark - stuck to their guns and ran him in the 2015 Cheltenham Gold Cup when plenty of others in the game were demanding a more cautious approach and insisting he should stick to novice company.

No novice had won the race since 1974 but Coneygree was more than man enough for the job.

He jumped and galloped his rivals into submission after morning rain – perhaps the one bit of good fortune he enjoyed during his career – helped make it a thorough test of stamina.

It was a case of David beating Goliath; the unfashionable yard of the Bradstocks conquering challengers trained by such as Willie Mullins, Paul Nicholls and Nicky Henderson with a homebred out of a mare who cost next to nothing.

Sara Bradstock parades Coneygree after his Gold Cup triumph (PA)

Coneygree was flawless that afternoon when having only his fourth run over fences and, overall, just his eighth over jumps.

In his absence, Don Poli won the RSA Chase, but you can be forgiven for forgotting that.

Coneygree was also superb when winning by 25 lengths on his seasonal reappearance at Sandown the following season but, ever since, his story has been dominated by sicknotes, excuses and veterinary bills.

“He has got pins in his hocks and has had stress fractures in every leg," Bradstock said. "You know at some stage he is going to tell you ‘I don’t dare do it any more’.

His run at Ascot was just his eighth since that Gold Cup triumph four years ago. He failed to complete in half of those contests.

Racing was united in saluting the underdogs, not that Sara recalls little about Gold Cup day.

“I almost don’t remember the Gold Cup – but it was incredible, because everyone said he couldn’t do it," she said “This horse is the king. You could ride him down Pall Mall – he is not scared of anything – so the Gold Cup was never going to worry him.

“We gave it a go – and thank God we did. He was already fragile then and he had already had a stress fracture at that stage.”

She added: “When he won (the Kauto Star Novice Chase) at Kempton, and he just romped away from them, it was very exciting to suddenly realise how good he was.

“We bought the mare (dam) for a couple of grand to breed something for my dad (Lord Oaksey). Carruthers was the first foal, him, then Flintham (then Coneygree). It is a fairytale, and I hope it gives everybody hope.”

Coneygree's future? “We might do a bit of the Retraining Of Racehorses (RoR) programme with him," Bradstock said. "There is a good home for him here – and he will never leave my side.”