VALERIE LEWIS, wife of Jim Lewis, owner of triple Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Best Mate, has died after a seven-month battle with illness.

Red Blazer, one of Henrietta Knight’s favourite horses, will fill the box left empty by Best Mate at her West Lockinge stables.

Best Mate’s much-anticipated racecourse return ended in tragedy as he suffered a fatal heart attack in the William Hill Haldon Gold Cup at Exeter.