There are decisions that are made on racetracks, and which are deeply regretted shortly after. But Tony Ottobre was completely comfortable with his momentous decision to withdraw Pride Of Jenni as he calmly left Flemington after Champions Day on Saturday.

Only an hour earlier, his reigning Horse of the Year had run at the back of the field in the Champions Mile after bleeding, but before the stewards could even order a three-month racing ban for bleeding from both nostrils, Ottobre ended his career after only his 35th race.

As the Australian breeding season does not begin until the new season in August, this could be considered too spontaneous a move given that it could still benefit from autumn preparation.

Rather, it is a carefully considered decision, as the owner has long been preparing for the next phase of the seven-year-old’s career.

He has visions of his champion mare visiting a Japanese stallion and, suddenly, a January-February mating is possible with a stallion of the same type as Equinox or his sire Kitasan Black, who carry the blood of all- powerful Sunday Silence.

Ottobre and his family will next be able to enjoy a more secluded journey into thoroughbred racing after a turbulent 12 months, during which he took a ride on the social media bus and got knocked down several times.

“I was on social media for four months,” he said. “The first three and a half months were great, then once she lost a race all the worms came out, putting her and myself in a bag.

“I’ve been put through a lot of strain and people don’t know who I am. They don’t realize that I help a lot of people through charities and things like that.

“If they Googled my name, they would see that I’m probably not a bad guy to know and get along with.

“We have always tried to do what is good for the horse. We are not here to make money. We are here to enjoy and take care of our horses.

“I have a family, my wife and my children; they don’t want to see that stuff, especially when ethically you’re good at what you do. You try hard and try to help people.

So it’s no surprise that Otbre is looking forward to the next stage of Pride Of Jenni’s life, away from the spotlight.

“We’re going on another trip that we’re going to personally enjoy,” he said. “Enjoy country life with our foals in private. He will be our horse and we can’t wait to see his babies.

“We have a 50-acre property in Cape Schanck. We love to see the horses and see the new foals running.

“She will be an excellent broodmare. It has already been said that she is built like a broodmare. Her pedigree is incredible and so to introduce you to Sunday Silence (blood), we really can’t wait to see what she can produce.

“At the end of the day, it’s a family affair. We appreciated what she did. She won Horse of the Year, which is incredible. She won $10 million in prize money.

“We’ve appreciated everything she’s done, but the last few months have been a little difficult with the way they’re racing against her.

“It’s bittersweet but we’re really happy.” The racing is great but there is so much more to come.

Ottobre said the King Charles III at Randwick was the race he was most looking forward to this spring, which meant a Cox Plate race a week later at Moonee Ponds was always going to prove problematic.

“The King Charles was the race we were looking for and to win it would have been exceptional,” he said. “But from there, things kind of went downhill.”

“To tell you the truth, I wanted the King Charles, so maybe we’ll go back to Cox Plate. There was quite a bit of pressure from everyone for us to run it in the Cox Plate and, looking back, I wish we hadn’t done it now,

“Ciaron (Maher) got her perfect for the Cox Plate and then she went a little too hard. She actually broke the course record in the first 1,600 meters.

On Saturday there was a real sense of the Horse of the Year title being unofficially transferred from Pride Of Jenni to Via Sistina and Ottobre said he was happy to do so.

“Via Sistina is another standout horse – she’s really something,” he said.

“I would have liked her (Pride Of Jenni) to leave on a better note, but what beautiful memories she leaves us.

“The Queen Elizabeth Stakes changed everything, and we are so proud that it was our mare who ran this extraordinary race that day.”