Anthony Knott: I completely lost track of what we were doing and where I was

Racing has been littered with a variety of personalities colourfully celebrating a winner, varying from the smooth, professional fist pump or the sublime, passion-fuelled roars where decorum leaves the mind as the feeling of success swoops in.

Then along came a former dairy farmer from Dorset called Anthony Knott, who single-handedly blew the proportions of celebrating out of the water to the downright ridiculous at Wincanton in January 2012.

Knott is renowned as the former owner of the remarkable Hunt Ball, and it was his antics when revelling in his beloved horse's victory at his local track that gained national fame, as he duly legged up on the back of Hunt Ball with jockey Nick Scholfield and rode into the winner's enclosure in a comical scene reminiscing of a knight in shining armour who had rescued his delighted damsel in distress.

It was not the last of Knott's famed celebrations that were caught on camera as just a couple of months later, following Hunt Ball's victory at the Cheltenham Festival, he gave a passion-fuelled, jubilant winning interview to Racing TV's Nick Luck, declaring his days of farming cattle were over in less-than-PG fashion of "B****r the cows!"

In such a short space of time, Knott became the most enigmatic owner in history, all of which was played out perfectly for a captivated audience.

Anthony Knott, owner

I usually sell on my horses after they have won one, but to win eight races with him was so special. I genuinely thought he was a machine, but it wasn't until my Wincanton antics where his following really started to gain momentum.

It was a far different scene for me beforehand as he lost at Plumpton on his previous start. I was completely deflated and thought we would never see the winner's enclosure again, but defeat was never out of the question at Wincanton and the more money we earnt, the more we shovelled on to him before the race. Thank god he delivered because I went from that deflation to great elation in a heartbeat.

I still don't know what came over me to this day to jump up on the horse. I simply leant forward, got Nick to shuffle in the saddle and leapt up – I thought there would be nothing wrong with it at all. Me and Nick didn't have a chance to say anything at great length because the crowd around the winner's enclosure had erupted – I think some words were "move along Nick, I'm coming up", but at that moment in time, words were not needed.

I didn't take any notice of the cameras around me, me and Nick were floating high above the clouds and everyone else was screaming. I still feel that high right now all these years later. It felt right to do, it was the place to be and I still sometimes think 'wow', I actually did that.

It was part of raw emotion. I lost track completely of what we were doing and where I was. It was such a great feeling, and a feeling that would carry on for a very long time thanks to the horse. The more he'd won, the more we would all celebrate and, with a horse like him, why bother stopping celebrating? I think racing has lost that zest for wild celebrations.

Knott pictured on Hunt Ball: 'I brought rock and roll back with a revival within racing'Credit: Edward Whitaker

Winning at my local track was on a par with winning at the festival. It was a smaller version of Cheltenham, but the celebrations started on the walk-in and went on and on for days after. I went into a zone that everybody owns a horse wants to try and go in. It was a story of the working man who didn't spend a load of money with a cheap horse having success. We as a sport buzz off that rags-to-riches story and people lapped it up.

There was a bit of luck with one of the stewards afterwards, who weren't best pleased with my actions. He told me they all wanted to have a word and that I would be fined £100. I cheekily said £50 will be better and laughed, but they certainly didn't find that funny.

I'm into rock and roll music and there were a lot of people in that community who weren't into racing but were now following Hunt Ball because they saw what I did on the TV.

I brought rock and roll back with a revival within racing. It helped the sport pick up a whole new audience, even the paper boy was laughing to me about it. A lot of people who couldn't ever have a horse also connected with the story – it opened up a whole new ball game for them. It was good for the world!

After Wincanton and before the festival, Nick Luck came down before to do an interview with us and did some milking. He won't like me saying this, but a cow actually decided to relieve himself from the other end on his head! Funnily enough, too, he must be one of the only people to have never backed him, so when I see the TV boys at Cheltenham now I always say 'Oh poor Nick' to rub it in.

Relive Hunt Ball's epic festival success in 2012

In every interview on TV, I always meant what I talked about, and I did actually get rid of the cows purely down to Hunt Ball. There were plenty of people with thousands of pounds on him for Cheltenham and my immediate reaction instead of going wild was 'thank f**k he won!' My whole body went to complete ice, but when I saw him power up the hill, I exploded. Like at Wincanton, I went into this bubble again and everything came together for perfect entertainment at that moment in time.

Would I want to do those antics again? I wouldn't. I've done it once and it'll never happen again. The whole time with Hunt Ball was the equivalent of going to the moon and back again, we were incredibly lucky that we went there.

I loved celebrating his victories so much, it was a bit like the Seabiscuit story, you still can't quite believe it and get your head around it.

What a moment for Anthony Knott as he returns to the Cheltenham winner's enclosure following Hunt Ball's victory in 2012Credit: Edward Whitaker

Nick Scholfield, jockey

It was my first ride on him, but he was such a fantastic ride. I didn't know what to think when the celebration happened, things like that obviously cannot be planned and you don't think about it clearly until after. It was such a mad yet tremendous experience that I'll probably never ever get again, but the stewards definitely didn't take too kindly to it.

It was Anthony's home track and when you get a win at your local, you have to celebrate in style. A lot of people say they'll do wild celebrations but don't actually do it, so fair play to him, he's out there on his own on that one.

It probably wasn't the most elegant thing to do, but stories like that do bring out racing in a good light as a sport. People want to see the owner who has only one horse doing brilliantly and racing is all about trying to provide as many good stories as possible.

I actually enjoyed Anthony's antics, he was so passionate about his horse that it instilled confidence in me, he wore his heart on his sleeve. The stuff you heard from him and didn't see on TV was Martin Pipe-esque.

At Cheltenham, I think Anthony was itching to jump on the back of him again. He showed passion with a typical rags-to-riches story: a cheap horse for a farmer from Dorset, the great underdog was winning everything.

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