HENRIETTA KNIGHT is looking forward to the future, which will include a link-up with Mick Channon, after announcing her retirement from the training ranks.
The three-times Gold Cup-winning trainer will give up her National Hunt licence to spend more time with her husband, Terry Biddlecombe, who suffered a stroke last October.
Knight (65) will forever be remembered for her expert handling of Best Mate, who won three consecutive Gold Cups at the Cheltenham Festival between 2002-04. The majority of her string will join the West Ilsley stables of Channon, her close friend and neighbour.
Knight said on her website, www.henandterry.com: "After much deliberation, and largely due to my husband Terry Biddlecombe's continued ill health, I have decided to hand in my trainer's licence.
“I have been incredibly lucky to have experienced some wonderful moments since I first began training in 1989.”
Based in Wantage, Oxfordshire, Knight saddled over 700 winners, beginning training in July 1989 and securing her first winner, The Grey Gunner, at Bangor a month later.
Despite her defining association with Best Mate, Knight was also responsible for Edredon Bleu, who won the Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham in 2000 and the King George VI Chase at Kempton in 2003. The tough chaser also claimed four renewals of the Peterborough Chase.
Other significant horses in Knight’s care include Impek, Racing Demon and, most recently, Somersby.
