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‘I think I’m more nervous than when I sent out Best Mate in his third Gold Cup.’
Henrietta Knight admitted to feeling the nerves as she bids to get her training career back underway with a brace of potential runners at Wincanton on Friday.
Knight was given permission to return to the training ranks by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) last month and has entered Zettabyte in the Start Your RacingTV Free Trial Now Handicap Hurdle and Ballywalter in the Stayers Maiden Hurdle at the Somerset track.
During her first spell as a trainer Knight's finest moments came when saddling Edredon Bleu to glory in the 2000 Queen Mother Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival and Best Mate to three Cheltenham Gold Cups between 2002 and 2004.
It could be an emotional return to training following a near 12-year hiatus for Knight, with Ballywalter, who is owned by her niece Mary Cookson, set to carry the colours of her late sister Celia Vestey.
Knight said: "I'm quite nervous thinking about it and I think I'm more nervous than when I sent out Best Mate in his third Gold Cup.
"Lots of people have been writing about us and I think there is an expectation for us to have a winner as we had a winner with our first runner in 1989 at Bangor.
"The plan is very much to go to Wincanton on Friday providing it is on. Zettabyte would prefer better ground, while Ballywalter is not a particularly fast horse, but he will love the ground. He is a very honest and game horse that jumps and stays well.
"He is owned by my niece, who will be there at Wincanton with me, and he will run in my late sister's (Celia) colours so it will be an extremely emotional day."
Although absent from training over the last twelve years, Knight continued to be involved in the sport by setting up a well-established pre-training and schooling business, which she will continue to run.
Former trainer Brendan Powell will act as assistant trainer to Knight, who saddled seven Cheltenham Festival winners during her first spell as a handler and admits adding to the tally is something of a target.
The 77-year-old said: "I would love to have another winner at Cheltenham, but I might have to wait until I'm in my 80s for that to happen as a lot of the horses we have are young and exciting and some are only two or three years old.
"It would be my aim to have another winner at Cheltenham as you can't describe that feeling. However, for all that those previous days there were wonderful, I never look back.
"I don't really have the time to sit back and watch those races. Racing is about planning ahead and keeping on going forward. You can't keep winding the clock back.
"We are already halfway through this season, and next season we will start to have targets. At the moment, it is just going to be one step at a time, but it will be nice when we get the first winner on the board."
