2012

HENRIETTA Knight, forever remembered as the trainer of triple Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Best Mate, announced her retirement from the training ranks this week.

Knight will relinquish her licence next month, with the majority of her horses, including Somersby, expected to join her neighbour and close friend Mick Channon.

Her husband, former champion jockey Terry Biddlecombe, suffered a stroke seven months ago and Knight said: “I feel that I can’t go on training since Terry’s stroke. He finds it hard to get around, and I’ve struggled trying to do everything myself. I’m 65 myself now, and it seems the right time to announce my retirement.”

On future plans Knight added: “I will do most of the pre-training before they move on to Mick. We are both excited by the prospect, and it should be an interesting venture for the two of us. I would also be more than happy for people to send me horses to work on their jumping.”

As well as the exploits of Best Mate, Knight enjoyed big race success with the 2000 Champion Chase and King George VI Chase winner Edredon Bleu. She is a frequent visitor to Ireland and enjoyed success here with Best Mate in the 2003 Ericsson Chase at Leopardstown, and Edredon Bleu in the Clonmel Oil Chase the same year.

Knight’s biggest recent win was with Somersby, who lifted the Grade 1 Victor Chandler Chase (Clarence House Chase) at Ascot in January.

[Henrietta Knight enjoyed major successes in the Cheltenham Gold Cup three times, Clarence House Chase, Dipper Novices’ Chase with Calgary Bay, the Glenlivet Hurdle with Stompin, Grand Annual Chase, the King George VI Chase twice, including with Edredon Bleu, Lanzarote Hurdle, Mersey Novices’ Hurdle, the Peterborough Chase eight times, Queen Mother Champion Chase, Scilly Isles Novices’ Chase, the Stayers Hurdle with Karshi and the Royal & SunAlliance Chase with Lord Noelie.

She is also an accomplished author with four books to her credit]

2012

HISTORY was made at Auteuil last Sunday when Mid Dancer became a racing legend, taking the Grade 1 Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris for a third time.

After passing the stands and clearing the water jump, Mid Dancer looked a forlorn hope, but the 11-year-old rallied on the far side and eventually cut down Shannon Rock after the last to win by a length and a half. Only seven horses finished the gruelling three-mile, seven-furlong chase, so even the last past the post collected a nice €21,250.

The whole nature of the race changed at the big rail and ditch fence on the back straight, where six horses came a cropper. Happily, only one jockey was slightly injured. The large crowd, nearly 15,000, had clapped the runners round the track virtually from the off.

Changed owners

Mid Dancer first won France’s equivalent of the Cheltenham Gold Cup, carrying the Sean Mulryan colours, in 2007. The horse moved into the ownership of Herve Barjot’s Pegasus Farms Ltd after running second in the 2008 Grande Course de Haies d’Auteuil, the French Champion Hurdle.

Last year Mid Dancer ran out a comfortable winner of the Grande Steeple-Chase from Rubi Ball, and now he has become just the fourth horse over 10 to have landed the event. He is the third horse to have won the race on three occasions, and he follows in the footsteps of Hyeres III and Katko.

Trainer Christophe Aubert had won the race as a jockey with Line Marine in 2003, and he said: “First of all I want to thank the public as they love to see a great horses, and the press buried him after his last run. His jockey [Sylvain Dehez] rode a perfect race.”

Owner’s delight

Barjot was Mulryan’s racing manager for many successful years. Naturally emotional, he commented: “Only an exceptional horse can do what Mid Dancer did today. He came back without his fore and hind shoes. Only a class act can do that.”

Mid Dancer has been in the winner’s circle 25 times. He has amassed winnings to the tune of nearly €3.24 million.

[Mid Dancer raced for one more year, and his final start was in the 2013 Grade 1 Grande Steeple-Chase where he was an honourable third, with Shannon Rock again finishing second.

Unsold for €8,000 as a yearling, Mid Dancer won 25 races over jumps in France and €3,365,930, including the Grade 1 Grande Course de Haies d’Auteuil Hurdle, Grade 1 Gras Savoye Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris three times, Grade 1 Prix La Haye Jousselin Steeplechase, Grade 2 Prix Georges Courtois Chase, Grade 2 Gras Savoye Hipcover-Prix La Barka Hurdle, Grade 2 Prix Murat Steeplechase twice, Grade 3 Prix Heros XII Chase twice, Grade 3 Prix Ingre Steeplechase twice, and the Grade 3 Prix Morgex Chase]

The Prince is actually a lady

1982

THE Curragh on Saturday last was well-patronised for the running of the Goffs Irish 1000 Guineas, and the Totalisator aggregate achieved a hopeful figure, almost exactly the same as the previous week’s meeting at the same track.

The racing was of a good and competitive standard practically throughout, with only one odds-on favourite all day. Wally Swinburn took the honours with a hat-trick on classic winner Prince’s Polly, Classical Error and Stanerra, the first two trained by Dermot Weld.

The fillies’ classic provided a great spectacle as Prince’s Polly, On The House and Woodstream fought out a dour last-furlong battle, and the tenacious winner was always going that little bit better than her more fancied rivals to score by a length and a short head.

Tom Nicholson, breeder of Prince’s Polly, retained a half-share, although the filly carried the colours of Kerry Fitzpatrick. Prince’s Polly looks certain to last the Oaks trip, and she could well be on target for a classic double, or possibly a treble.

[A daughter of English Prince, Prince’s Polly won four of her 10 starts at two and three, including the Group 2 Pretty Polly Stakes and the Group 3 Silken Glider Stakes, and she finished second in the Group 1 Irish Guinness Oaks. She had no chance to make an impact as a broodmare as she died at the age of four]