By Michael Guerin
As clouds go this is a pretty big one.
The Interdominion carnival and harness racing as a whole have gone from bathing in the reflected glory of the unbeatable one to feeling like a barbecue on a rainy afternoon.
Christian Cullen was racing's pin-up boy but now all the posters come down.
This is not good. In fact, it is very bad. Christian Cullen was cool and racing is a little short of cool, crowd-pulling champions at the moment.
To borrow a popular saying of our times - bugger.
But this cloud does have a silver lining. One we can't see right now and one many will never see.
Christian Cullen's retirement has robbed racing of a hero. It has robbed the Interdoms of their brightest star.
But it has spared us the unthinkable. The unpleasant taste of watching a champ go down.
No matter how good Christian Cullen is, or was, one day he was going to get beaten. The laws of harness racing, with its handicapping system, science of sectionals times and constant threat of bad luck would have seen to that.
Country Duke threatened to do it on Friday night and when he didn't you could feel the wave of relief wash over the crowd.
As one rival said to Country Duke's driver Russell Thomson after Friday's race, "you would have needed a getaway car to get out of here alive if you had beaten him."
Christian Cullen had become the rarest of all popular New Zealand athletes - one bigger than the Tall Poppy syndrome.
Nobody wanted to see him beaten anymore. Now they won't.
In the United States and Europe champions are retired at their zenith all the time. They go to stud untarnished.
But in Australasia we often ask too much of our equine elite. Our handicapping systems and intensive racing schedules, in both galloping and harness racing, set our champions up for a fall.
None of harness racing's greats this decade - Christopher Vance, Chokin, Master Musician, Blossom Lady, Il Vicolo, David Moss or Call Me Now were retired at their peak.
Whatever the reasons, it was still sad to see them starting to get beaten as often as they won. Just think Pride Of Petite. Get the picture.
It may not seem possible right now, but that could have happened to Christian Cullen.
He was getting more colty as the season progressed and who is to say he would not have lost interest in racing like so many great stallions before him.
Who is to say an injury like the one that ended his season yesterday could not have struck him down during the tendon-wrenching tension of next week's Interdominion Grand Final.
Christian Cullen had become so big that even one defeat would have been a disaster, an early Christmas for the cynics.
But that won't happen. Instead Christian Cullen's career ends with him winning his last 14 races. With the cheers of an adoring crowd ringing in his ears.
We will never know whether he would have broken Noodlum's record. Whether he would have won another 20 races, whether he would have become New Zealand's first sub 1:50 miler.
He will disappear into the breeding barn a horse of mythical magic. In years to come the tales of his greatness will grow bigger with each beer that passes the lips and there will be no room for argument because Christian Cullen didn't leave any.
We never had to watch him give up. Never have to conjure up excuses for a shock defeat. He leaves us with the farewell gift of a perfect season.
And he leaves harness racing in far better shape than he found it.
Harness racing has a ready-made new hero in Courage Under Fire. And there are still plenty more rabbits to pull out of the Interdominion hat.
The show will go on. Even if Elvis has left the building.
Pictured: Christian Cullen ending his career a winner at Alexandra Park on Friday night. HERALD PICTURE / PAUL ESCORT
Horse Racing: Christian Cullen cloud has silver lining
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