Henrietta Knight

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chroniclandlord

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Henrietta Knight has annonced her retirement.

HENRIETTA KNIGHT, who famously saddled Best Mate to win three consecutive Cheltenham Gold Cups, has announced her retirement.

Knight, 65, will relinquish her license next month, with the majority of her horses expected to join Flat trainer Mick Channon.

The announcement comes just seven months after her husband, former champion jockey Terry Biddlecombe, suffered a stroke and Knight feels it is the correct time to call it a day

"I feel that I can't go on training since Terry's stroke," she told the Horse & Hound, admitting it had been an "emotional" decision to make.

( Racing Post )
 
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Mick's always had an interest in the jumping game - he bred the 1988 Tote Gold Trophy winner Jamesmead, and had a bumper winner in his colours recently with a gelding called Sgt Reckless.
 
all the best to her

will get little credit on the board though..even though supposedly better trainers have copied her template for winning top races by running very few times a season..something she got hammered for on forums..but something most well vaunted trainers now do..with no mention about wrapping in cotton wool from those who queued up to slate this trainer

getting a horse to the GC 3 times is an achievement..winning it 3 times is special..and i don't give a f00k what ran in it..many runnings of the GC are full of very average horses
 
Always liked her. Agree with ec too. If it had been willie mullins or nicky henderson(and no offence to the fine trainers) campaigbing bm that way it would have been hailed as "genius"
 
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Shame - always liked to have a flutter on one of Hen's horses, hopefully she will still come to the races as MC's representative.
 
Surely it's the owners who decide where the horses go? Mick Channon seems a very strange one.

Henrietta was unique amoungst trainers. I hope she enjoys her retirement.
 
Euro will have an explanation for why those horses had worse strike rates than BM

something like..they ran more often...they competed against better horses..they ran over different distances

whilst we all know that BM always ran at exactly the same trip..against selling platers..and was just damn lucky to stay sound..lucky to win 3 GC's etc...snore

the trainer deserves no credit at all

Here is how i see its just attitude towards trainers and not how they run horses .if HK trained Frankel it would be..boring..never raced at any other trip than a mile..doesn't run often enough..but because its HC that trains him..its superb..build him up steadily etc

its nothing to do with anything but jumping on the "knock" wagon..some trainers have used exactly the same "cotton wool" treatment as HK is supposed to have used and never a word said against them
 
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EC1 said:
Here is how i see its just attitude towards trainers and not how they run horses .if HK trained Frankel it would be..boring..never raced at any other trip than a mile..doesn't run often enough..but because its HC that trains him..its superb..build him up steadily etc
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There has been a certain amount of comment here and elsewhere about Frankel's rather unimaginative programme so far in his career.

Denman did run against better horses than Best Mate and actually put up at least two performances in the Gold Cup that were better than anything Hen's horse ever did at the track. He doesn't need statues or enclosures named after him though. Memories are enough.
 
Euronymous said:
There has been a certain amount of comment here and elsewhere about Frankel's rather unimaginative programme so far in his career.

Denman did run against better horses than Best Mate and actually put up at least two performances in the Gold Cup that were better than anything Hen's horse ever did at the track. He doesn't need statues or enclosures named after him though. Memories are enough.
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forget Denman and KS for a while..BM got stick before they came along..he got stick for beating not much in the GC..and yet the previous 40 years of GC's are littered with poor fields and yet not one horse won it 3 times.

When people talk about the great hurdlers of the 70's its very rare for ratings to be mentioned..its about achievement in the end..winning 3 GC's will be remembered more than any placings..how many people ask what Red Rum was rated?...they just know he won the GN 3 times..the fact he also placed in two other years never gets mentioned..because in the end its winning that matters
 
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So true. too much emphasis is put on cross generation ratings and its big chunks of guessing, prejudices and finger in the wind half the time. is tudor minstrel better than frankel? i dont fcking know

what we know about bm and henrietta is that he was readied for the races superbly and was schooled to jump as effectively as any horse ive seen. couldnt really ask for more
 
what we know about bm and henrietta is that he was readied for the races superbly and was schooled to jump as effectively as any horse ive seen. couldnt really ask for more
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Quite so.

The thread isn't about how good Best Mate was, it's about his trainer.

Hen did absolutely the right thing for Best Mate - the manner of his untimely death proved that.
 
and the way she handled it and generally in interviews in her bright but slightly batty way. She was very likeable in an industry that isnt full of charmers
 
I think her retirement interview on ATR was regrettable.

Didn't like the clerks, the crowds, new owners, high heels, etc, etc.

Probably a case of bad timing regarding the interview, but the perception of HK, has gone from classy trainer to old snob, on the back of that interview.

A real shame.
 
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