by Selfies weren’t really a thing when Henrietta Knight was given a trainer’s license in 2012, but they come with the territory for famous modern racing and she was stopped by some eager fans on the short walk from the Paddock to the grandstand at Wincanton on Friday. . “I still don’t know how to do them,” she said later. “I don’t know anything about those things. When I first started training, I used to go around with a big phone with an antenna. If I had kept it, I would probably have sold it for very little money.”
A big bear hug from James Bowen, his runner’s rider, in the paddock before the race was also a departure from the usual pre-race protocols. On a day when National Hunt racing welcomed back one of its most recognizable and popular figures in recent years, however, it felt entirely fitting.
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Knight was 65 in May 2012 when she announced her retirement from coaching to spend more time with her late husband, Terry Biddlecombe, who died in January 2014. They were the former boarding school teacher blue-blood and the former horseman who owned it. the sport’s most famous couple in the early years of the century, when Knight trained the excellent Best Mate to become the first horse from Arkle in the mid-1960s to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup three times in a row.
In the dozen or so years since Somersby supplied the latest of her 14 Grade One winners in the Clarence House Chase in February 2012, Knight has written three books, including Not Enough Time, a moving memoir of the life she shared with Biddlecombe on and off the track. She also continued a successful pre-training business, preparing young horses for jumping careers.
But it’s probably fair to say that nobody expected Knight to reapply for a trainer’s license at the age of 77, or that she would be at Wincanton on a bitter January afternoon in 2024 with two runners to her name. The first, Zettabyte, was even stuck, somewhat sentimentally, on Radio 4’s Today program on Friday morning, despite being a big outsider in the betting, and while neither Zettabyte nor Ballywalter, at 28-1, could trouble him to put on the judge, their trainer was very happy to be back.
No significant targets have been set yet. “Just to get that first winner,” Knight said. “This season is half way through and it is difficult to pick up horses in the middle of the season, because they are placed in other stables. [But] I’m getting some new owners and getting ready for next year, then we’ll know what we have and we can set some goals there.”
The new owners who want to send horses to West Lockinge Farm are “the younger generation”, and Dawn Graham, his “secretary and right-hand woman”, has warned that “I’m going to have to do one. much more on social media. I’m on Instagram. I can’t really make it work, but I’m on it. Dawn has been with me when I’ve trained before, so she’s used to my eccentricities.”
Knight’s approach to training will be the same as ever, in part because its facilities and many of its employees are the same as ever.
“I’ve seen enough methods elsewhere, but at the end of the day, everyone who trains, trains differently,” Knight said, “so we’re more or less stuck with our old system, because you have to cut yours. coat according to your cloth and we have our own legacy. There are things I’d like to change but … it’s always worked and we can go to other places, that’s what we used to do a lot, we’d take the horses out to ride them.”
In addition to the team that has been with her for years, former jockey and trainer Brendan Powell will play an important role as Knight’s assistant.
“A lot of the staff is the same,” she said. “They worked from home [in the pre-training business] for many years without an end goal. Now there’s a purpose to what they’re doing and they’re excited about it.”
Obviously, the trainer is in charge. “It was a great reception,” said Knight, after uninstalling Zettabyte. “It’s amazing how many old faces have appeared, and they all look a bit older. As I do.”
Classic collonges can collect
Venetia Williams’ 30% strikeout rate in November and December has dipped slightly in the first two weeks of 2024 but most of her runners are still clearing themselves and Fontaine Collonges (3.00) The stable could take within touching distance of £1m in prize money for the season in the Chase Classic at Warwick on Saturday.
Fontaine Collonges’ season got off to a poor start when she went out on debut in the London National at Sandown, but made up for it in style when she finished 14 lengths clear of second in the Rowland Meyrick at Wetherby on Boxing Day.
A 7lb rise in the ratings for that sure success seems more than fair, as form also suggested that Fontaine Collonges had benefited from a wind operation over the summer. The lightly-raced nine-year-old, who has just 10 starts over fences in the book, could be a further improvement to return on Saturday’s marathon trip.
Warwick 12.05 Etalon 12.40 Dawning 1.15 Vicenzo 1.49 Kyntara 2.24 Gray Dawning 3.00 Fontaine Collonges (nap) 3.35 Aye Right 4.05 Hartington
Kempton 12.20 Kalif Du Berlais 12.55 Junkanoo 1.30 Phlegmatik 2.07 Notlongtillmay 2.42 Nemean Lion (nb) 3.15 Pepe Le Moko 3.50 Douglas Dc
Wetherby 12.35 Jaminoz 1.10 Colonel Harry 1.40 Delgany Bobby Blue 2.15 Mount Tempest 2.50 Benassi 3.25 Lord Of Kerak 3.57 Jasmine Bliss
Chelmsford 4.15 Twistaline 4.45 Post Rider 5.15 Juicy 5.45 Expert Agent 6.15 Endless Youth 6.45 Reliever 7.15 Cavalluccio
Wolverhampton 4.30 Brightness 5.00 Desert Raider 5.30 Heet 6.00 Summa Peto 6.30 Not Available 7.00 Basholo 7.30 Street Life 8.00 Trusty Scout 8.30 After
Wetherby 1.10 Colonel Harry stayed strong in the closing stages of the Grade One Henry VIII First Chase at Sandown last time and seems to appreciate this stage up to two and a half miles.
Kempton 1.30 Two of them Phlegmatic on This filly has had three career wins over fences and Tristan Durrell’s 3lb claim is also positive.
Warwick 1.49 Kinmara He hasn’t hit a double since he started working with Mel Rowley in the summer and could be up for a hat-trick after upping 6lbs on his latest success.
Kempton 2.07 He is the fourth choice out of five in the betting, but Notlongtilmay He was one of the best players last season and they improved further to finish a strong second in the Paddy Power Gold Cup in November.
Warwick 2.24 Four very promising novice chasers in a five-strong field, with Strong Gray slightly better than Apple Away and Broadway Boy. A bad mistake from two left him with a mountain to climb at Cheltenham last time, but he finished within a long distance of the winner and has considerable scope to progress.
Kempton 2.42 Nemean lion he was only getting on when a bad second-last mistake put him out of contention in the Colmore at Cheltenham in November.
Warwick 3.35 The reliable Aye Right hasn’t won since November 2021 but has started to shed some weight and Dylan Johnston also takes on a useful 7lbs.
