Lutine Bell 3rd at Kempton "NO FLUKE"

Lutine Bell with two of his owners, Bill and Chris Rogerson

We were very pleased with Lutine Bell's run at Kempton and he can be regarded as unlucky. He was stopped twice in his run in the final two furlongs having been shuffled further back at the start of the race. He will be put away for the winter now and we are excited by his prospects for next season.

Lutine Bell bolted up on the first run for us having left Sir Mark Prescott who was gracious enough to send us a fax to congratulate us on the horse's "impressive win". On his next run for us he was well beaten at Lingfield but was drawn wide and saw too much daylight. This was obvious to close followers of horseracing. The handicapper was impressed by the win at Wolverhampton and raised the horse 12lb to 92. He took little notice of the Lingfield race and dropped him a notional 1lb.

Nick Luck of Racing UK felt we had a chance in his pre-race comments. However, his co-presenter, Lydia Hislop, dismissed his win at Wolverhampton "as a fluke". While everyone is entitled to their opinions (though I prefer to back mine up with facts or at least a little substance) there was no mention after the race of the fine run of Lutine Bell. Maybe the presenter in question was too embarassed to say she had dismissed the horse's chances and what a great race he had run. A little humility would not go amiss especially given th recent negatice publicity the Racing UK team has attracted.