24th May 2013

We have made the very hard decision to retire Knighton Combe.  He is now 13 years old, and having won 13 races in his career culminating in his success in the 2011 Summer National, we have decided that he doesn't owe any of us anything, and he should head off and enjoy a happy retirement.  He was bred by my father and John Dufosee, who was a great friend of the family, and it was John who started me off Point-to-pointing and who got me the job as pupil assistant to Paul Nicholls.  John backed Knighton Combe and I rode him in his formative days in points where he won 4 times, before Mike Miller took over after I began training.  He then won a further 2 points, and a hunter chase at Folkestone, before he moved to us, and then won a further 6 times under rules.  Having taken a heavy fall at Ascot in April, in a race he had won the previous year, we gave him a confidence boosting run at Stratford last weekend - but he's not the horse of old, and he deserves a long and happy retirement.