Henrietta Knight was among the many to pay tribute to retiring champion jockey Tony McCoy at Sandown on Saturday.

Knight, who is based at West Lockinge, near Wantage, provided McCoy with big-race wins aboard Edredon Bleu in the Queen Mother Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival in 2000, and Best Mate in the King George VI Chase at Kempton in 2002.

And she said: “He’s a fantastic man and a great friend – a true professional. He is irreplaceable.

“His analysis of a race is second to none and he just sums everything up so well.

“He will be a huge loss to the sport. What he has done is marvellous and I think it is great that he is retiring while he is in one piece.

Sport

“I will never forget the day when he rode Edredon Bleu to win the Champion Chase at Cheltenham.

“It was just incredible how he got that horse up to win.”

Best Mate’s King George victory came after McCoy had been beaten by Florida Pearl on Knight’s triple Gold Cup hero the previous year. She added: “He and Terry (Biddlecombe, Knight’s late husband) had a few words about that.

“He (McCoy) didn’t believe that Best Mate would stay and he was determined to prove that he did stay the next year.”