Best Mate's trainer Henrietta Knight still as busy – and outspoken – as ever

More than seven years have passed since a runner was last sent out from West Lockinge Farm in the Vale of the White Horse, yet the stable yard is a hive of activity on an anything but mundane midweek morning.

From 30 boxes appear the heads of 30 inquisitive thoroughbreds, stable staff hotfoot it from one barn to the next, and Henrietta Knight is on top of it all, calling the shots just like she did for more than two decades before retiring from the training ranks in 2012.

By 11am she is already more than five hours into her day yet the septuagenarian is bright-eyed and full of good humour as she finally draws breath with a cuppa in a reception room that is almost as busy as she is courtesy of the racing memorabilia and magical moments that adorn the walls and radiate emotion.