HENRIETTA KNIGHT, the trainer of triple Cheltenham Gold Cup-winner Best Mate, has announced her retirement.
Knight, 65, said today that she will hand in her licence to spend more time with her ill husband Terry Biddlecombe, calling time on a training career which dates back to July 1989.
Mick Channon, the former England international turned trainer, will take charge of the majority of horses currently at her West Lockinge Stables in Oxfordshire.
Knight trained more than 600 winners under rules including the legendary Best Mate, winner of three successive Cheltenham Gold Cups from 2002 to 2004, and Edredon Bleu who won a Queen Mother Champion Chase and two King George VI Chases for the yard.
“After much deliberation, and largely due to my husband Terry Biddlecombe’s continued ill health, I have decided to hand in my Trainer’s License,” she said in a short statement released this morning.
“I have been incredibly lucky to have experienced some wonderful moments since I first began training in 1989. I am hugely grateful for the backing that I have received over the past years from my family, my loyal owners, my dedicated staff and from numerous top jockeys. Likewise the Press and media have always been tremendously supportive.
“I would like to thank everybody who has helped me enjoy so many happy days. However, despite the above mentioned decision, I still intend to retain links with the racing world.
“My neighbour and close friend, Mick Channon, has agreed to continue to train the majority of the horses which are currently in my care. He too enjoys the National Hunt scene and is already making his presence felt in that sphere with recent good winners from only a handful of NH runners.
“I hope that this change will mark the beginning of a new era and I am looking forward to continuing to handle the horses until they move to West Ilsley for their races. My gallop, schooling fences and loose jumping school will have plenty of use and other new projects are already in the pipeline. There are exciting days ahead.”
