Tag Archive for: Best Mate

Return to Cheltenham winner’s enclosure is ultimate dream for Henrietta Knight

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Returning to the Cheltenham Festival winner’s enclosure is the aim for Henrietta Knight as she prepares to rejoin the training ranks in the new year.

The 76-year-old is best known for the magnificent Cheltenham Gold Cup hat-trick of Best Mate between 2002-2004 and also the exploits of Champion Chase hero Edredon Bleu.

But she retired from training in 2012 and has since been involved in the pre-training of horses as well as being an active figure at the sales.

Trainer Henrietta Knight will be assisted by Brendan Powell when she returns to the training ranks
Trainer Henrietta Knight will be assisted by Brendan Powell when she returns to the training ranks (Joe Giddens/PA)

However, Knight announced in November she had reapplied for her trainer’s licence after joining forces with Brendan Powell for a shock comeback.

That process is well under way and she is eager to get the show on the road in her new venture, hoping to saddle her first runners early in 2024.

“It’s coming along well and I’ve applied for the licence so I’m just waiting for that coming through,” said Knight.

“They say it will take two months, but I’m hoping it will come through sooner. We’re hoping to have runners the first week of January.

“I’m very excited and Brendan is my assistant. Between us we have had over 1,500 (winners) as trainers so we’re quite excited.”

Henrietta Knight with the brilliant Best Mate
Henrietta Knight with the brilliant Best Mate (David Davies/PA)

Knight is anticipating a maximum of 35 horses in training and dreams of unearthing a rare gem among her small but select string of young stock which will take her back into the spotlight at the racecourse she holds most dear.

“I’d like to get some older horses in, but it just depends what owners we attract,” continued Knight.

“We’ve got some lovely young ones waiting in the wings, but it might take a year or so to have them at their best as some are only three-year-olds. They would all be unheard of to you, but hopefully they become household names.

“We’ve got to get some Grade Ones and my ambition is to be back in the unsaddling enclosure with a winner at the Cheltenham Festival. I don’t mind which race, I’m not fussy, as long as it’s a winner.

“It might be a bit optimistic this year, but hopefully it will be in 2025. I like to have a goal in life, you have got to have an aim.”

Henrietta Knight with Terry Biddlecombe
Henrietta Knight with Terry Biddlecombe (Barry Batchelor/PA)

Knight was assisted by her late husband and former champion jump jockey Terry Biddlecombe during the halcyon days of Best Mate and Edredon Bleu, with the duo’s joyous celebrations after various Cheltenham Festival victories a popular sight with the racing public.

Knight remembers fondly the adoration she received during those great days and hopes that support will be rekindled on the resumption of her training career as she seeks to attract new owners to her bespoke West Lockinge operation.

She added: “Hopefully the appeal to people is we’re only going to be a small yard with a maximum of 35 horses and a lot of owners like the idea of sending their horses to a small yard as they get more involved and a bit more of a personal touch.

“I think some of the horses benefit by being in a smaller yard as they don’t get so stressed.

“Terry was always a great man with the public, he loved his public and they were fantastic when we trained those great horses.

“We hope they will come back to support us because we have some fantastic people out there, and Brendan has too – we’re really looking forward to getting into the spirit of it.”



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Henrietta Knight to return to training ranks

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Henrietta Knight, who saddled Best Mate to three straight Cheltenham Gold Cup triumphs, is poised for a return to the training ranks in the new year.

The 76-year-old is best known for her hat-trick of victories in the blue riband event between 2002 and 2004 but was also the trainer of Champion Chase hero Edredon Bleu, who similarly carried the colours of Best Mate’s owner Jim Lewis.

Knight, who was married to former champion jump jockey Terry Biddlecombe, retired in 2012 but has remained involved in the sport by running a pre-training business and also being an active figure at the sales.

Henrietta Knight with Best Mate
Henrietta Knight with Best Mate (David Davies/PA)

However, she will now recommence training under rules from her West Lockinge base, where she hopes to train around 25-30 horses.

Knight will be assisted by Grand National-winning jockey Brendan Powell, who was a trainer in his own right before serving as assistant to Joseph O’Brien and Rebecca Menzies in recent years, and he is excited to link-up with such a distinguished name in racing.

“I’ve known Hen for 30-odd years and was good friends with Terry,” said Powell.

“I came over here to Rebecca’s and it sort of hasn’t really worked out and Hen mentioned to me in the week that she was thinking if she got the horses, she wouldn’t mind training again and asked if I would consider going down and helping out.

“I had a few chats with her and we decided that I would give it a go and see what happens.”

He went on: “I know she has applied for the licence and there should be no reason why she wouldn’t get it.

“It’s a good place there and my son Brendan rides out there along with Paul O’Brien and James Bowen. She’s always busy and always got plenty of horses in and she is hoping to get around 25-30 horses, which would be just a nice number. We will give it a go and see what happens.

“She has been a great trainer over the years and with the horses she has had. It’s obviously not going to be as big as that now, but I’m sure we can get some nice owners together – she has a few already – and we will see if we can build on that.”

Knight told Telegraph Sport: “People will probably think I’m mad starting again when most people are stopping, but I like doing things and I miss the buzz.

“Cheltenham’s where I love and I can’t wait to get back there. The emphasis will be on trying to find a few chasers to take me back to Cheltenham. I’m very excited and want to get going.”



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Best Mate’s owner Jim Lewis dies aged 88

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Henrietta Knight has paid tribute to Jim Lewis, owner of three-time Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Best Mate, following his death at the age of 88.

Lewis’ claret and blue colours based on his beloved Aston Villa were synonymous with Prestbury Park success in the early 2000s, as both Best Mate – who became the first horse since Arkle to complete a hat-trick of Gold Cups when successful in 2004 – and Champion Chase hero Edredon Bleu became household names and regulars in the season’s biggest contests.

His first Festival winner was Nakir who picked up the 1994 Arkle, but it was not until he joined forces with Henrietta Knight and her partner Terry Biddlecombe that big-race victories became a regularity.

Owner Jim Lewis collecting the Tote Cheltenham Gold Cup from the Princess Royal after his horse Best Mate won the Cheltenham Gold Cup
Owner Jim Lewis collecting the Tote Cheltenham Gold Cup from the Princess Royal after his horse Best Mate won the Cheltenham Gold Cup (Barry Batchelor/PA)

Edredon Bleu would go on to add a King George VI Chase in 2003 to his previous Champion Chase success, while Best Mate also won Kempton’s Christmas feature a year earlier in 2002.

Knight highlighted Lewis’ love of racing and the unwavering support of her former owner.

She said: “I was incredibly lucky to have an owner like Jim Lewis who had huge enthusiasm for the game and was very patient with his horses. He left the training of them to Terry and myself but hugely enjoyed discussing where they were going and how they were getting on.

“He was a colourful person and he was very much a part of the Best Mate era – he loved being in the pictures. We used to call him ‘Lucky Jim’ because he was lucky and he had some very nice horses that won some very big races.

“In those days it was extraordinary because there were no mobile phones or social media as there is today and all our correspondence was done on the fax machine. Every weekend I would send him a handwritten fax on how the horses were, he would reply to it and we would plan what we were doing.

“Everything was at a slower pace and it suited my way of training and the way we were with the horses – it was brilliant.

Jim Culloty on Best Mate and owner Jim Lewis (bottom left) celebrate their third consecutive win in the Cheltenham Gold Cup at the Cheltenham Festival
Jim Culloty on Best Mate and owner Jim Lewis (bottom left) celebrate their third consecutive win in the Cheltenham Gold Cup at the Cheltenham Festival (David Jones/PA)

“He was old school and it suited me. He believed in Terry and myself and the way we did things and it just worked well.

“I was incredibly lucky and his horses put me on the map really. I was just incredibly lucky to have met Jim and for him to believe in how we did things.”

Lewis and Knight joined forces for victory five times at the Cheltenham Festival in total, but superstition meant they famously never watched the races together and a hallmark of their time as owner and trainer would be the joyous scenes when the full Lewis-Knight-Biddlecombe axis finally reunited in the winner’s enclosure.

“We never watched a race together. He was very superstitious, like myself, and we always watched on our own,” continued Knight, reflecting fondly on the many special days she shared on a racecourse with Lewis.

“Those Gold Cups were magic and it was a pretty amazing day in 2000 when Edredon Bleu won the Queen Mother Champion Chase – that was a great day. We just had some great days and a lot of fun. Racing was fun then and I feel the pace that racing goes now, an element of the fun is removed.

“I think Jim’s passing is a big reminder of how things were 20 years ago when everything was done much slower. We were amateur and it is much more professional now.”



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