Racing: Producer denies BBC team 'duped' trainers

The makers of the BBC programme Kenyon Confronts yesterday denied claims that they duped trainers into making incriminating comments.

The National Trainers Federation said on Thursday that Ferdy Murphy, David Wintle, Dudley Moffatt and Jamie Osbourne were all seeking legal advice after being accused by reporters from the programme of breaching Jockey Club rules. The NTF accused the BBC of planning to broadcast secretly-recorded conversations.

But Paul Woolwich, executive producer of Kenyon Confronts, said yesterday: "We did secretly record a number of trainers but they were quite open without being entrapped and they suggested that we could make some money on a horse that they would train."

Woolwich added: "The first rule of racing states all horses should be run on their merits and be ridden to be given the best possible chance of winning or obtaining the best possible place. What we are showing are some of the practices used in racing that we would consider, as laymen and punters, to be infringing the rules."