Racing: Sacré Bleu as Lucky Jim strikes again

King George VI Chase

Nick Townsend
Sunday 28 December 2003 01:00 GMT
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Boxing Day at Kempton Park, and for the second successive year we delight in receiving a visit from one of racing's wonderfully idiosyncratic extended families. There's Henrietta Knight, who you could imagine in another guise desperately attempting to keep order at St Trinian's; her husband Terry Biddlecombe, the former champion jockey, reformed alcoholic and equine sage with his wonderful battered hat, pressed down over that wispy hair; and the two Jims, owner Lewis, who epitomises the great enthusiasts who support National Hunt racing, and jockey Culloty, the "Cool Dude", as he is known.

"Weaver of dreams," Lewis says of Knight, who trains Best Mate and Edredon Bleu for him. And compared with some you could name, this quartet actually relish sharing that dream. Even here, after Edredon Bleu, at nearly 12 years old, the old retainer of the yard and deputising for the master had confounded many sceptical of his stamina (which explains a 25-1 starting price) by claiming the afternoon's centrepiece, they impart a kind of public ownership to their winners.

On a dank day in this unprepossessing corner of south-west London, we had witnessed the conclusion of an excellent year for Knight & Co, one in which a second Cheltenham Gold Cup victory for "Matey", has completed an unprecedented back-to-back sequence, and now this, a courageous victory from the horse who is boarded in an adjacent box at West Lockinge stables and is Best Mate's companion when both are out to summer grass.

Yet, the tall poppy secateurs are never far away. Recently, Knight has received a degree of unsolicited advice. First, Best Mate doesn't run enough, according to certain opinion. Now, good heavens, they're sending him to Ireland to run this afternoon in the Ericsson Chase - as was first revealed may be the case in these columns some weeks ago - rather than attempt to repeat last year's King George VI Chase triumph. There were some conspiracy theories circulating about how much the "connections" knew about their super-sub's suitability for the event, but it was all bunkum of course. Which is not to say that it was not an excellent piece of training by Knight to have her charge at his peak on the day, the pre-race analysis of the conditions by Biddlecombe and impeccable riding by Culloty.

All Lewis had to do was to watch, and enjoy even his own doubts being rendered ill-founded as his horse made virtually all the running. "I said to Valerie [his wife] first thing this morning, 'Wouldn't it be fantastic if Edredon Bleu won?' and we both laughed. We knew he didn't stay three miles when he was a younger horse [he finished sixth in the race three years ago]. Why would he stay three miles now? The thing that is different about him now is that ordinarily when he is passed he would give up [he was headed briefly by First Gold], but not today.

"He's brave and strong, and the older he gets, the more determined he gets. When Jim went back into the lead, I thought 'I don't believe all this'. Fairy stories, isn't it?"

The owner, known as "Lucky Jim", may be a retired businessman but he remains a professional Brummie. He is rarely without his Aston Villa scarf wrapped around his neck. Lewis revealed how Edredon Bleu was originally brought from a meat dealer in the South of France. "He had horses which he used to sell for meat. And horses which, if he thought they were OK, he'd run." Fortunately, "Blue", as he is known, was always destined for the latter option. He has proceeded to win 19 races and over £500,000 in prize money.

For the moment no retirement is planned. "I always said to Hen, 'The day he doesn't jump the fences is the day he goes home'. If he made two or three mistakes in a race, you'd have to say 'enough, Blue', and he'd go hunting with my daughter probably."

There are at least two young horses ready to replace Edredon Bleu. "We've got a horse called Blazing Guns, who's running at Newbury next week. He's a beautiful horse, a full-brother to Unarmed, who won a big hurdle in Ireland. And there's another called Tuesday's Child. But you never know until you get them on a racecourse, do you?"

The conversation turned to Best Mate, for whom today's event will be the prelude to a third Gold Cup attempt. Should he remain in training for a further year, it is conceivable that he could meet Paul Nicholls' Strong Flow, but that now must be far from certain. The talented young chaser, winner of this year's Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup, had been aimed at the Royal & SunAlliance Chase at the Festival in March, with a tilt at the Gold Cup scheduled for the following year. However, the gelding cracked a bone in his knee in Friday's Feltham Chase, which he won, and will miss the rest of this season.

There are no such doubts about Best Mate's soundness, although his owner admitted: "I'm always nervous. I could find at least 20 reasons why he should stay at home, you know. There's the ground, there's the Irish luck, there's the rain. You've got to keep believing in miracles." By most people's estimation, Lucky Jim has already received more than his deserved share. Yet, surely nobody would deny his Best Mate another success today on the long road to legendary status?

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