Time marches inexorably on – and no more so than at Henrietta Knight’s West Lockinge Farm stables, near Wantage.

Six years after staging her last public open day, the former schoolteacher again welcomed racing fans to her picturesque yard on Sunday.

Back in 2004, a staggering 6,000 flocked to see the triple Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Best Mate.

Those heady days may have gone with Knight’s string now halved to 40 horses.

This time the crowd was around a more conservative 250.

But some things at West Lockinge don’t change.

As always there is a warm welcome with plenty of smiling faces around the yard.

Knight’s menagerie of feathered friends are still chasing each other around the duck pond.

And Terry Biddlecombe, her husband of 15 years now, is his usual cheery self – despite an uncomfortable experience on a lawnmower which has left him walking gingerly.

Then, of course, there are the horses who continue to fuel Knight’s dreams.

The West Lockinge handler may not have the numbers of her golden years.

But while there isn’t the quantity, there is still plenty of quality.

Her great hope now is Somersby, a six-year-old bay gelding, who won the Henry VIII Novices’ Chase at Sandown last December before finishing second in the Arkle Trophy at the Cheltenham Festival and then filling the same spot at Aintree.

He is as short as 8-1 with bookmakers Paddy Power to foil Kauto Star in his bid for a fifth straight win in the King George VI Chase on Boxing Day.

Kempton’s showpiece is over three miles – a trip many pundits feel Somersby is made for.

However, Knight takes a different view.

“He will start off at shorter distances like he did last year and we will see how he takes to them,” she tells the crowd as Somersby strides out around the paddock.

“He didn’t quite stay two and a half miles at Liverpool.”

Later, speaking with owner Tim Radford, Knight pinpoints the tote Haldon Gold Cup at Exeter on Tuesday, November 2 or a graduation chase at Kempton the previous day as the likely starting point for Somersby.

They hope this will be followed by a crack at the Tingle Creek Trophy Chase at Sandown – a prize which has so far eluded Knight as Edredon Bleu – the other great star of her golden era – twice finished runner-up.

Radford and his wife, Camilla, are now Knight’s principal owners.

They also own the giant Calgary Bay, who finished sixth in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, and is set to make his seasonal return in a valuable handicap chase back at Prestbury Park on Saturday, October 16.

“He ran in the Gold Cup, but that was too far for him,” said Knight. “He was not quite up to that calibre, but he didn’t disgrace himself at all.”

Old favourite Racing Demon is to be campaigned again in handicap hurdles where he has a lower rating.

Long-standing owner Martin Broughton, chairman of British Airways and Liverpool FC, who preferred the Sunday afternoon tranquility of West Lockinge to the cauldron of Old Trafford where the Reds lost 3-2 to Manchester United, paid tribute to Knight at the end of the parade.

And new owners have also joined the yard, including none other than The Queen, whose Harvest Song became the stables’ first winner in the royal silks when springing a 40-1 shock at Fontwell in May.

Blantyre, fresh from spending the summer at Windsor Castle, is Her Majesty’s other charge at Knight’s yard.

He’s one of a string of promising youngsters the trainer gives a favourable mention too along with the likes of Loch Ba, Gunna Sound and Silver Roque.

And there’s a new stable jockey at West Lockinge in 20-year-old Hadden Frost.

“It is exciting and a big compliment to be trusted with the job,” he says looking forward to being part of Knight’s team.