Racing: Ramsden denies trainer-gambler combination `lethal' claim

The trainer Lynda Ramsden yesterday denied there was "a conflict" between her husband's gambling success and her side of their business. Mrs Ramsden, her husband Jack and champion Flat jockey Kieran Fallon, are suing The Sporting Life for libel for saying they were cheats.

Mrs Ramsden told Mr Justice Morland and a jury at the High Court in London that often she had no idea which horse her husband, who manages the racing side while she concentrated on the horses' welfare, had a bet on.

The Ramsdens, who train at Thirsk and Fallon were the subject of a "savage onslaught" in The Life after their horse Top Cees won the 1995 Chester Cup. The Life said the couple and Fallon conspired to deceive the racing public by deliberately not trying to win the Swaffham Handicap at Newmarket three weeks earlier. Publishers MGN Ltd - part-owners of The Independent - deny libel. They say the article is true in substance and fact or fair comment on a matter of public interest.

Richard Hartley QC, cross-examining for The Life, suggested the trainer- gambler combination was "lethal", but Mrs Ramsden said all her horses were trying to win and her husband did not back them all.

Mr Hartley asked whether it was due to her husband's "betting wiles" that they had been able to build up the yard. Mrs Ramsden said the business would still have developed if he had not been a gambler. The case continues today.