Bringing The Knights Out For A Saudi Raid

"I was born in the UK, and my family was a farming family, so I always rode as a young kid and was always very interested in the racing side of it.

"I'velways loved horses, and my family all rode as well." We had cattle and sheep on the farm as well. I've always sort of been brought up in the outdoors. Following this sort of route, I was never going to go work in an offi.

"en I was younger, I used to come up to Newmarket on weekends and ride out." "I went and did an equine degree at university and spent time in America."

It was this time in America that really engrained in Knight the desire to pursue a career in training and in the racing industry.

"When I came back to England, I went and learned my training working for a couple of trainers and on studs.

"It probably wasn't till I returned from Kentucky (USA) that I really felt I wanted to go down the training side more than the bloodstock side."

"It was an amazing place. I was twenty when I went out there. I used to work on the John Bell farm out there before it became a Darley farm. I loved it out there and had an amazing time. It really set me up for when I got back to England.

"I think my first real job as an assistant was with John Hills, and I was his assistant for a couple of years; that really cemented it for me."

"That was my aim from that point on, when I was 22 or 23 years old."

As they say, the rest is history, with Knight having his first training season in 2006.

"I had a few years with John Hills as an assistant in Lambourn before coming up to Newmarket as an assistant trainer to Ed Dunlop.

"In 2006, when I took my licence out, it was a bit of a shot in the dark because it’s very easy for people to say they are going to send you a horse.

"While you are an assistant to somebody, you have somebody who will always support you." But it’s when you actually ask them to write out a check that's the telling point.

"I kind of look back now and think, God, I was crazy," Knight says.

"I managed to get a $50,000 unsecured loan through Allied Irish, where you had to show the jockey club you had in your account. My wife, Emily, and I moved to Sussex from Newmarket when I was Ed's assistant and began training there.

"I got very lucky." I had a big supporter when I started, which just came out of the blue, in Peter Goulandris, who had Hesmonds Stud at the time. He sent me ten horses in my first year, and that really helped me get going.

"I think when you're young like that, you're a little bit carefree, and I wanted it so much," he said.

TRANSITION MAKE OR BREAK

Serial entrepreneur and CEO Steven Bartlett said, "If you want a successful business, you have to instill a culture of learning." But when one starts a business, there are many more aspects to it, as Knight quickly learned.

"As a head trainer, you've got to be a good organizer; you've got to be able to delegate." There are so many pieces to the business. It's not just about training a horse to go up a hill or getting it fit for a race; there are so many different aspects to it.

"It's the management of the staff, managing owners, the running of a yard, the business side of it, which when you sort of learn as an assistant trainer, you don't really have much to do with."

"When I first started, that probably was the biggest rude awakening." "For me, you're suddenly running a business where you're paying wages, you're paying for feed bills, you're paying for hay, straw bedding, all those sorts of things."

Three years ago, the team moved from Sussex to Newmarket, where they are now based at Rathmoy Stables, a move and facility that Knight is proud of.

"We've really stepped up a level moving to Rathmoy." It was lovely to train in a beautiful place down there at Angmering Park.

We trained there for a good while, and we were very successful there.

"But Rathmoy Stables is a state-of-the-art yard, and it was only built about eight years ago." It used to be the plot where Neville Callaghan trained, but it was knocked down and rebuilt. We have lots of amazing facilities here: an indoor covered riding arena, a swimming pool, an equine swimming pool, turnout paddocks, treadmills, and equine spas; and then the layout of the yard is done to a very high standard with great ventilation and a very safe rubber floor.

"It’s a lovely yard, and literally, you walk out the back here and you’re on the Newmarket training grounds, on which there are hundreds of gallops and walkways."

"If I cannot train a horse from here, I’m never going to be able to train a horse because you have everything here for you in that respect."

Reflecting on Two Decades

Knight has trained some great horses over the past twenty years. He commented on a few that began to help him get noticed.

"I think the horse that really sort of put me on the map and really got me going was a horse called Illustrious Blue, back in the early parts of training."

"I actually came down to the Melbourne Cup with him, and he won the Goodwood Cup and won out in Dubai as well." Early on in my career, I thought it was all easy, but he was the one who really put my name out there.

"We have had a couple of stakes horses in between Illustrious over the last few years, but you really need that good horse to come along and help your career." Sir Busker helped me with that also, and hopefully CheckAndChallenge can continue with that now.

"I've had some nice horses, but nothing in that class.

"I had a good horse named King of Dixie who was listed but later sold. We also had a nice horse called Fireship, who won a Group Three for us out in France. He was decent, but he wasn’t quite the sort of Group One or Group Two horse.

"We have lacked a flagship horse, as in a stakes horse, for a while now."

The stable now prepares Sir Busker for a Saudi campaign that Knight is confident about and excited about.

When talking about the Group Two-winning 7-year-old Sir Prancealot x Street Kitty progeny, you can see it on the face of the trainer that this flag bearer for the stable will pique interest when unleashed in Riyadh.

"He was a cheaply bought yearling at Tattersalls Ireland. Luke Livingston from Kennet Valley Thoroughbreds sort of put it up to me. He does a lot of the selections, him and Sam Hoskins, for Kennet Valley, and it was put to me when I was over there in Ireland.

"I looked at him and liked him. His pedigree was not much to write home about. He was by Sir Prancealot, who was doing well enough, but he was out of a Tiger Hill mare who hadn’t really produced much.

"Kennet Valley is quite strict on pedigree, but as an individual, he was lovely." I said to Luke, "Let's go for it."

"I think that the guys behind the computer screens back at home and at Kennet Valley would have been like, "Why are we buying this horse, based on his pedigree and everything?"

"But I always liked him." Actually, I broke him in with my head girl there. He always had a bit about him, and he won as a two-year-old, but he was a little bit quirky, so as a three-year-old, it didn’t really all go according to plan.

"Jamie Spencer rode him at the end of his 3YO season and rode him back, and I think he sort of realised what his running style was at the time. As I say, the rest is history, as he has now gone from strength to strength.

Tough Saudi Cup choices

Initially nominated for both the Neom Turf and the Saudi Cup, with the invitation in hand, the programme has been set for him, as Knight said.

"He's oing to go for the Neom only now. Although we were invited to the Grade I Saudi Cup, and as much as it is very, very tempting, I just kept going back to the fact that he's never run on that sort of dirt before. I just felt, looking at the entries for the Neo, that it looked like a race that he could win.

"Whereas there were far too many variables with the Saudi Cup." Again, the prize money is fantastic, and I think we could go there with a real chance of potentially winning there.

He is owned by Kennet Valley Thoroughbreds, which is made up of 16 individual owners, for whom Knight is so thankful for allowing him to do his job. They truly appreciate the overwhelming workload he puts in.

"They split him 16 ways." They are from all walks of life and are a lovely group of people. Quite a few of them have already had horses with me before as well. Some of the long-standing clients of Kennet Valley have just been on an amazing journey. They are also very appreciative of it because, as we all know, good horses are hard to find.

"He’s given them so much fun and enjoyment, and that's just riding the crest of the wave."

Following the Saudi campaign, his mission will continue into Dubai, with races targeted there also, as Knight said.

"He's going to come home after Saudi, and then we're going to head back out to Dubai." He is either going to be in the Dubai Turf, where he ran fifth last year, or the Sheema Classic.

"The Dubai Turf is a mile and a half, and the Sheema Classic is a mile and a half." So that might just be stretching him a bit, but as we’ve seen in his races, he always finishes his races hard, and being out of a Tiger Hill mare, you just never know.

"But we'll see how he goes in Saudi first, but definitely the next option is Dubai World Cup night, but which race?" As I say, it's slightly undecided."

He is the only runner that Knight prepares for Saudi, marking his first entrant on the tracks of Riyadh, but the trainer has sent stablemates to Dubai.

"I've never had a runner in Saudi before, but I have been there; I went to the meeting the first year it was held." Dubai I've been there quite a lot; obviously, Illustrious Blue won out there, and we’ve had others also. We had a horse called Aussie Reigns who was second out there a few years ago.

"So, we've done that trip quite a lot, and I love it. I think it's great. I like giving them a break here in England around October, November, or even September and October, as was the case with Sir Busker.

"It's almost like a winter training camp for them, taking them out to Dubai while they're fresh and starting their season in that warmer climate with the sun on their backs." I think they really benefit from it.

"Maybe we've got a couple of horses that could get up there next year to Dubai; obviously, Checkandchallenge would be a horse, and Kennet Valley has a nice horse called Dual Identity who was very unlucky in the Cambridgeshire not to win." Both of them could definitely head out to Dubai next year.

Sending horses around the world is a common occurrence for trainers of the calibre of Knight, and he acknowledges the experience with both John Hills and Ed Dunlop.

"I think both Ed and John were good at sending horses abroad. John Hills often had horses running, whether it was Hong Kong, Dubai, Italy, or San Moritz. I was there when Docksider won the Hong Kong Mile. He enjoyed travelling abroad with his horses.

Ed Dunlop as well. When I was with Ed, I was there for the years of Lailani, Mot Juste, and Ouija, who all travelled around the world. The planning side of travelling with horses is very important, and that was one of my roles. I enjoy that side of it. It's important to get things right because when you do send a horse abroad, there are a lot of things involved.

"Having worked for the likes of John and Ed, especially, it definitely stood me in good stead for moments like now."

THE MOST IMPORTANT TEACHINGS

With this experience and understanding of the importance of planning, Knight added the biggest lesson he has learned when it comes to transporting runners around the globe.

"First and foremost, I believe the horse is the key. "You've got to have the right type of horse. You have to make sure the horse has a good temperament, is an easy enough horse to train, and is a sound horse.

"That's all-important that you've got the right type to send out; it's not something you really need to be watching every day at home." I think the veterinary side of it is important, making sure that when they do travel abroad, It's obviously gotten better and better. Everything is done correctly, veterinary-wise. Make sure that they're well hydrated at all times. Make sure they are healthy before they get on a plane, as you don’t want them to pick up travel sickness on their way over there.

"making sure that all of those things are done properly." You’ve got to staff it and make sure you have the right people travelling with you. I’ve got a very good travelling companion who has done a lot of trips with me, and when I worked for Ed and John, they both had good travelling companions because I could not be there all the time.

"So, you need the right people looking after the horse and making sure they’re doing the right thing and being able to think on their feet." "They need to be able to train the horse as I would train them, so that’s very important as well in making sure that it all runs smoothly and hopefully is a very successful trip."

The All-Important Journey

Sir Busker will fly out a week before the race, as Knight prefers him fresh and ready to go.

"So he flies on Saturday and then runs the next Saturday, which is good because I enjoy running them off the plane and have had success doing so."

In his first season of training, he had a dozen in the yard; that number is now rising off the back of success, and Knight’s reputation has grown.

"We would be around 45 to 50 horses, but we usually sit around the sixties." We need more, and that’s why we moved back to Newmarket.

"I just felt that we were just sort of going through the motions a bit down in Sussex, and in order to survive in this industry, numbers are important." The more horses you have, the better your chances are of finding a good one.

"Moving to Rathmoy Stables, which is a lovely yard, as well as being back in the headquarters, which is Newmarket, has given us a slight boost in profile," says the trainer.

Looking into the future

Knight mentions the hunt for that special horse and reflects on those who have come before Sir Busker while also obviously looking ahead.

"In terms of the 2YOs, it’s very early days. I don’t think I’ve got the right horse in my 3YO division this season. But you never know if something comes out and surprises you.

"They are hard to find, and when you don’t have the big numbers like some of the big yards, it becomes even harder." I'm not saying you have to have lots of money just to buy good horses, because obviously Sir Busker is a prime example.

"My brother and I do a lot of the buying for the stable, but we don't have the big bucks like some of these big trainers. You always hope something special comes out. We’ve got some nice 2YOs this season."

Making that trip down under

While the search and development of a potential star for the stable continues, Knight has races he would love to target at home and abroad.

"I'd love to bring a horse down to Australia, and obviously with Sir Busker, we definitely thought about bringing him down for the Cox Plate, so he was greatly being considered for that."

"Checkandchallenge": "There is definitely a consideration for him now for the end of next year for races like that, and I think a race like that would really suit him."

"The prize money around the world is fantastic at some of those races, and we’d be stupid not to try and find something for that."

Although these international races are on Knight's radar for future planning, when asked about the race he would most like to win, and why, his response is quick and witty.

"The Saudi Cup because the winner will receive $8 million."