First the hype and the pie-in-the-sky dreams. Then a sobering dose of reality.Constitution Hill was a great horse over hurdles. He isn’t going to be a great horse on the Flat, at least if his – thoroughly creditable – fourth in Saturday’s Group 3 September Stakes at Kempton Park is any guide.But should a first defeat in his new career mean the end?Granted, he’s nine years old, but plenty of geldings of his age compete on the Flat without the clamour for them to be retired.‌Watching Saturday’s race, Constitution Hill still has the appetite for it – for a start, he looked a lot more willing in the finish than odds-on favourite Gethin.A British Horseracing Authority rating of 101 may well have to come down if the Nicky Henderson trainee is to get his head in front in the handicap sphere.So what? It wouldn’t offend me to watch Constitution Hill contesting 0-90 handicaps, winning in his turn, if that’s what he’s happy to do.‌Trainers often tell journalists that thoroughbreds don’t read newspapers. They sleep on them.Assuming that’s true of Constitution Hill, he’ll be blissfully unaware of the fact he won’t be going to Australia, a country he doesn’t know exists, for the Melbourne Cup.Horses don’t compile handicap ratings, either – they just run in races, the most basic form of competition. It’s not speed chess.We’ve learned from the case of poor Galopin Des Champs this week that retirement doesn’t mean the thoroughbred is suddenly immune from danger.‌So why not just let him run?■ GELDINGS can run in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe from next year after France Galop’s proposal was rubber-stamped by the European Pattern Committee on Friday.Plenty have welcomed this move, which opens the race up to the likes of Calandagan and Goliath.I’m not among them.‌Even Francis Graffard admits nobody would ever have heard of Calandagan but for the gelding operation that turned his career around. The horse refused to go to the start, never mind race.Essentially, the surgeon’s knife has conferred an unfair advantage on him.I’ve no objection to geldings competing in races right up to Group 1 level, but there should be an exception at the very top.That means that Classics and the race universally regarded as the best in Europe should be open to thoroughbreds who can contribute to the breed’s future.‌It’s all very well saying we want to see the best horses run in the best races, but that must include the physical – and mental – capacity to cope with what it means to be a racehorse.■ MEMO to the British Horseracing Authority: don’t shield your eyes from the thorny issue of blindfolds. All too often, a horse loses all chance, and its backers their money, at the start of a race – witness Lipsink at Haydock Park on Friday – when the hood comes off too late.Other jurisdictions tackle blindfolds in a different way. You should take a look.