2020 was a huge year for the William Knight Team. Like everyone else, we were faced with navigating the challenges of a global pandemic, but during that time we completed our move from Sussex to Newmarket. At the time there were a lot of unknowns, but with hindsight, the move could not have gone more smoothly. On 10th May our team of approximately 40 horses and 10 staff arrived at Rathmoy Stables in Newmarket. We quickly had things organised and felt at home in no time. On 2nd June we had sent out our first winner and by mid-summer we had built our team of horses up to around 60, having acquired some new owners and some 2yos from the breeze up sales. Despite Covid-19 stopping play for many weeks, we enjoyed one of our best seasons for some time.We ended the year on a total of 23 winners from 189 runs (a 12% strike rate)and £263,987 in prize money. We also clocked up a further 66 placed runners.

The highlight of the year had to be SIR BUSKER’s Royal Ascot win in the Silver Hunt Cup. This was his second win of the year, in a season which saw him progress up to Group 1 company, finishing a respectable 4th in the QEII on Champions Day at Ascot in October. He ran consistently all year, narrowly missing out on victory a further 3 times. He finished the year on a total of £105,249 prize money on an official rating of 111.

Many other horses also put in impressive efforts keeping the yard on the hot list: Pearl Beach won a total of 4 times, moving up 16 lbs in the ratings. Seinesational won 2 nice races at Sandown and Goodwood over 1m6f before being sold to go jumping. Author’s Dream, King Of The South and Libretti also picked up a brace of wins each. Improving 3yo Progressive Rating won a valuable Newmarket handicap over 6f before being sold to Hong Kong.

Desert Gulf (Kodiac) and Shady McGee (Zoffany) were both 2yo winners and several other horses did their bit to contribute towards our tally. Overall, it was a solid year and we have a decent team of horses to go to war with in 2021. The older horses enjoyed their winter breaks at nearby Longholes Stud, where our yearlings were also broken in. We are grateful that racing is continuing albeit behind closed doors and are looking forward to running some horses over the winter before the 2021 season kicks off in March.

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