Timeform profile three of Henrietta Knight's best horses following the news that she is set to return to the training ranks.
Best Mate (Peak Timeform rating 182)
Best Mate cemented his place in both racing folklore and the hearts of a nation with his third consecutive Cheltenham Gold Cup win in 2004, the first horse to achieve that feat since Arkle in the mid-1960s.
Comparisons to ‘Himself’ were the source of much frustration for connections, however, along with constant questions about how the horse was being campaigned due to only a limited number of appearances every season.
Ultimately, everyone loves a winner and this fine equine specimen did just that – frequently, and in the best of company. He finished in the first two on every start until he was pulled up and tragically died in the 2005 Haldon Gold Cup.
Edredon Bleu (172)
Owner Jim Lewis was fortunate enough to have another top-class chaser around the same time as Best Mate in the shape of Edredon Bleu, a hardy campaigner who won no fewer than 25 races under Rules.
A bold-jumping front runner, Edredon Bleu was as versatile as he was durable and his many victories came over trips ranging from two miles to three miles, though it was only his guts that got him home in the 2003 King George VI Chase at Kempton over a distance which probably stretched his stamina.
His tenacity in a finish was already the stuff of legend by then and that quality was perhaps best demonstrated when he won the 2000 Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham, getting the better of a sustained duel with Direct Route under a never-say-die ride from A. P. McCoy.
Somersby (168)
Somersby was a fixture at the Cheltenham Festival and ran at the meeting eight years in a row between 2009 and 2016, four times for Knight and four times for Mick Channon following his former trainer’s retirement in May 2012.
Festival glory ultimately eluded Somersby, though he was placed on four occasions and came as close as he ever would to making the breakthrough when chasing home Sizing Europe in the 2010 Arkle.
Away from Cheltenham, Somersby enjoyed a deserved day in the sun when registering the sole Grade 1 victory of his career in the 2012 Clarence House Chase at Ascot, providing Knight with the final top-level success of her first spell in the training ranks.
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