11:16am Wednesday 4th January 2006
HORSE RACING: When Henrietta Knight left Exeter for home on the evening of November 1 she knew she was returning to an empty box at her West Lockinge stables.
It is a situation with which every trainer can sadly identify at some stage when one of their warriors fails to come back from the battlefield.
But rather than dwell on things for too long, Knight and husband Terry Biddlecombe knew exactly what to do. And later that evening the stable of triple Gold Cup hero Best Mate already had a new occupant when Red Blazer moved in.
Now 14, Red Blazer's racing days are over. The winner of nine of his 27 races, he never quite hit the heights that were expected of him after he finished second in the Cheltenham Festival Bumper, beaten only by the top-class Dato Star.
Injury problems affected him throughout his career, but on his day he could be a decent performer as he showed when rattling up three novice chase victories during the 2001/02 campaign despite being considerably older than most of his rivals.
But it was more what Red Blazer meant to Knight than what he achieved on the racecourse that saw him granted every favour going at home and assume the position of stable pet upon his retirement.
"I loved him right from the start," Knight explains. "He came from Mick Easterby's and he was just a lovely horse to look at.
"He had a big, lolloping stride and big, floppy ears and loved being fussed over. I think it was just the way that he looked at me that won me over.
"You try not to get too sentimental about your horses but sometimes you just can't help it.
"People forget that he was also a very talented horse on his day, but he just had a lot of problems and we struggled to keep him sound."
And what of Red Blazer now? Well the old boy spends his days educating his younger rivals, often spending hours in a field adjacent to Knight's house with exciting novice chaser Racing Demon.
"He's a good influence," Knight reports. "They like each other's company and a bit of his wisdom seems to have rubbed off on Demon', who can be a bit quirky at times but is growing up now."
Red Blazer's racing days might be over, but his job at home is far from done.
Today: RED BLAZER
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