At the training stables near Wantage in rural Oxfordshire where Best Mate has been prepared for his historic attempt to win a third Gold Cup, there are many precious places.
The millionaires' row of boxes where, alongside the King George VI Chase winner, Edredon Bleu, the dual Cheltenham big race hero is housed.
The pond and the yard where ducks and other bird life roam contentedly; the newly railed gallops on the downland above, where, legend has it, King Alfred was also trained to be great.
But most precious of all is the snug room just inside the trainers' house at West Lockinge Farm where Henrietta Knight and her husband, Terry Biddlecombe, hold court.
 |  Sometimes I wish Henrietta would treat me half as well as Best Mate |
And that is exactly what it feels like to meet jump racing's most successful double act, surrounded by dogs, pictures, trophies and every other memento imaginable. Successful they undoubtedly are, but also unusual, even an odd couple, if you believe the headline-writers.
Biddlecombe, 62, an iconic, three-times champion jockey of the 1960s, is a rough and ready farmer's son from close to Cheltenham.
In contrast, Knight, 56, seems all prim and proper, an ex-teacher of biology and history at a nearby girls' private school.
Those subjects she enjoyed, but it was her own classroom days, learning physics, that taught her the key to this relationship. "The one thing I remember from fiddling around with magnets was that opposites attract, and that is exactly what has happened with us, I suppose," she says.
"But we have much in common, and are always talking horses, and arguing about them, but it is all very constructive!"
"Mostly!" roars the rich Gloucestershire voice from the other side of the room.
"When I am on the phone to her while I am going to the races, and I am not getting my way, I find I can easily cut off and blame bad reception. She doesn't realise."
And so they go on, bickering, jibing, though most of all laughing with each other.
| I will have to follow the race in the loo as usual |
"Sometimes I wish she'd treat me half as well as Best Mate," says Biddlecombe. "If you were half as obedient, I would," counters Knight, with mock severity.
She continues: "Matey eats everything put in front of him, while he [Terry] is meant to be on the Atkins diet, but keeps stealing slices of bread when I'm not looking."
Marriage came in 1995 after they rekindled a long-term, informal friendship, forged in the horsey world through which both strode, he as a jockey, she in the three-day eventing arena.
The love of horses that brought the two together has grown to embrace a talented team of nearly 80 at West Lockinge.
Clearly, Best Mate heads the party that travels to Cheltenham, and has both trainers dreaming of a place in history for their charge.
"He'll win barring accidents," Biddlecombe declares. "I am worrying about everything," adds his wife.
"But Terry keeps me as calm as he can about it all. Even so, I will have to follow the race in the loo as usual, and then charge down the path like last year to kiss him."
Biddlecombe adds: "My advice to anyone needing the loo near the weighing room on that Thursday is don't go for trap one.
"It's the only one my little Hen'll use, and she'll break down the door to bring Matey luck."
To which Knight responds: "Oh Terry, really...but it's true."
Cornelius Lysaght's meeting with Henrietta Knight and Terry Biddlecombe will feature on Gold Cup day during Five Live's coverage of the Cheltenham Festival
(16-18 March)
The couple are also featured in a BBC Two documentary on Wednesday - So What Do You Do All Day? (1900-1930 GMT).
MMIX
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 
