A COUPLE have won national fame while struggling to fight off a business disaster.

Horse breeders Ken and Heather Saddington are ecstatic following news that a filly bred by them has won the British Warmblood Society Young Dressage Horse of the Year Championship for four-year-olds.

Mrs Saddington said: "This was a hotly-contested class in which the vast majority of horses were German-bred. This is a great boost to British breeding."

Her husband said: "It's great news, we are tickled pink."

The couple are locked in a legal dispute following a disaster which hit their Carlton Bank Stud, near Stokesley, North Yorkshire, in June 1998, when their farmland was swamped by 1,500 gallons of diesel which escaped from a contractor's tank during restoration work on Carlton Bank.

They claim their horses were afflicted by sores and recurring dermatitis caused by a diesel-contaminated stream and bog on the land.

They say they have since been unable to accept visiting mares, for fear they could be sued if the animals fell sick.

Much of their business now revolves around artificial insemination.

They are taking legal action against HJ Banks, from West Cornforth, County Durham, which has admitted responsibility for the accident and has offered the Saddingtons a one-off compensation payment of £10,000, which the couple say is not enough.

Mr Saddington said: "We have got the breeding stock and we are just carrying on with that. And we are very pleased it was a British horse winning this class, which is unusual."

Only days before Solar Flare's success, one of the Saddington's stallions - Ace - won a national dressage event.