Never Enough Time - My Life with Terry Biddlecombe by Henrietta Knight

A few years ago I lost interest in reading biographies of jockeys and trainers.  Then for Christmas Heather presented me with ‘Not Enough Time – My Life with Terry Biddlecombe’.

I started to read it on Christmas Day half expecting it to fall into the category of being partly read and will return to it later after reaching page sixty.  Less than seven days later and I have finished my gallop through its three hundred and sixteen pages.  Three hundred and sixteen pages of love, love for life, laughter, tears of joy, tears of sadness, foul language, triumph and tragedy both human and equine.

I never thought the ‘c’ word would be used as a term of endearment.

Henrietta Knight was a trainer of National Hunt horses from her farm in Lockinge in Berkshire.  Terry Biddlecombe had been a very successful National Hunt jockey in the 1960’s and 1970’s claiming the championship in 1965, 1966 and 1969.

He rode in the days when jockeys would think nothing of having a glass of champagne or Guinness immediately before a race or even in between races.  Nowadays they cannot take the risk for fear of the racing medical teams swooping on a weighing room and being breathalysed.  In the days when Terry Biddlecombe rode the jockeys would ride despite carrying injuries.  He went to post wearing a neck brace once to support his neck as it was a bit sore due to a cracked vertebra or having his lower arm in plaster under his colours as it might have been broken.  Mad or brave but with his Corinthian spirit it was inevitable that the racing public would take him to their hearts.

At his memorial reception held at Cheltenham racecourse Alastair down read his tribute to the ‘Blond Bomber’.

‘There are folk from every corner of the land, the young, the old, the great, the good and the happily plain humble, the well-healed and the mildly skint…..’ which captures the way he was adored.

All through the book is a spirit of warmth and kindness in a very hard industry.  How Henrietta Knight built up a loyal staff that stayed with her for fifteen or sixteen years and only moved on as she wound down her training and handed in her licence after Terry Biddlecombe passed away in January 2014 at the age of 72.

When I was working at Salisbury racecourse at the owners and jockeys entrance I met an apprentice rider who had ridden at Lockinge for Henrietta Knight.  I mentioned that after we had been to an open day there that we felt it was a friendly family type of place.  The apprentice told me that it was and that how everyone got along with one another.  There was always someone to turn to if there was a problem including Terry Biddlecombe who always had time for young jockeys wanting to learn.

At the end of the book Henrietta Knight wrote a letter to Terry.

‘You were the love of my life.  I miss you every day and, on many occasion it is hard to keep going.’

One of the man’s old friends from his weighing room days believes that Terry would be looking down from the great racecourse in the sky where the going is always good and the sun always on your back and saying to his wife ‘Fuck it.  We can’t live in the past. Let’s have another drink.’

Published by Head of Zeus (2015)

ISBN for hardback 9781784971335

£20.00