Tag Archive for: Henrietta Knight

Constitution Hill and Henderson the people’s champs, says Henrietta Knight

Nicky Henderson and Constitution Hill are the combination racing needs as the Cheltenham Festivals draws ever nearer and the eyes of the broader public focus on the sport, according to Henrietta Knight.

As the trainer of the unforgettable Best Mate, Knight has experience of her own when it comes to handling the career of a top-class horse that the racing public have taken to their hearts.

Best Mate achieved the incredible feat of three successive Gold Cups between 2002 and 2004 and is immortalised not only in a life-sized bronze sculpture at Cheltenham, but also holds a permanent place in racing lore.

Like horses such as Red Rum and Arkle before him, he was the poster boy of National Hunt racing during his era and became a figure that even the totally unversed were drawn to – something that is now beginning to happen with Constitution Hill.

“I think racing and the country like to have a horse they can associate with and he is that horse,” Knight said of Henderson’s Unibet Champion Hurdle hotpot.

Henderson and Constitution Hill
Henderson and Constitution Hill (David Davies/PA)

“I think he is the horse that will capture the imagination of the people rather like Best Mate did. He was the people’s horse and I think that is what Constitution Hill is becoming.

“He is on everybody’s lips and he is the first horse that is mentioned when it comes to Cheltenham.

“He has not run many times, but what he has done has been spectacular. At the moment the sky seems to be the limit.

“I think it is the ease with which he has been winning his races that makes him stand out.

“He is very important for jump racing, and for the sport as a whole. He is the young pretender and this is what we need, a horse like this, and I think it is very important we have a horse like this.”

Constitution Hill winning the Ladbrokes Christmas Hurdle
Constitution Hill winning the Ladbrokes Christmas Hurdle (John Walton/PA)

Knight also feels Constitution Hill’s trainer has earned a similar status in the affections of the racing fraternity, with Henderson one of the best and best-liked figures in the sport.

She said: “From the days of having Best Mate it is very exciting as you are sitting on a crown jewel. Nicky is a top trainer and he deserves a really good horse like this again.

“It is lovely for him and it definitely adds to the story.

“Constitution Hill is starting to become the people’s horse and Nicky is the people’s trainer.”

Best Mate’s owner Jim Lewis dies aged 88

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.”