LOYALTY is a rare commodity in this era of commerce driven by market forces.

And Jevington trainer Mark Flower is delighted the owners of the horses he trains have stayed with him despite a nightmare year.

Mass desertion by owners could have been on the cards in some yards.

Flower's name has been almost totally absent from race cards since October

His Devonshire House Stables were able to produce only five winners throughout 1999.

He had dropped from an all-time high figure of 18 winners two years ago.

His set-up suffered through two bouts of virus in his 20-horse yard.

Also, more than an average amount of injuries affected the horses.

But his owners have stuck by him. He said: "The owners have been marvellous.

"Fortunately they are intelligent and far-sighted enough to realise that one bad season does not make me a bad trainer. I have been on an upward curve since my first season in 1993, but last year was a disaster."

Yet today there is a very positive message coming from Jevington and Mark and his wife Alyson are looking forward to the first season of the new century with enthusiasm and optimism.

He said: "To begin with we have reorganised our website. People were telling me it was boring and out of date, and I guess they were right because within 24 hours of the revision last week I had several enquiries which I hope to turn into sales and new owners."

Mark is in no hurry to get the show on the road this season.

He said: "I am concentrating on my five two-year-olds, who won't be ready to run until May and, as my older horses have had a proper break over the winter, they won't be fit to fire either for a couple of months."

To fill in the time and add interest, Mark is seriously considering having a runner in the Channel Islands next month.

He said: "Seren Teg, a three-year-old who has been one of my few runners on the all-weather, scored at Lingfield three weeks ago and followed up with a very good placed run in a better class race last week.

"Her owner Kirk Bowen, a computer consultant, thought it would be fun to go to Jersey where they run the qualifying races for their Derby in March.

The prize money is only about £1,500 to the winner but there is a good travel allowance and, of course, we are well placed here in Sussex for shipping horses across the Channel."

Bowen owned a share in Multi Franchise, also trained by Flower, and another of his horses is Star Turn which he claimed out of Newmarket trainer Michael Bell's yard.

Flower said: "Star Turn was a cripple which was why Michael put it in a claimer. But many of my horses have similar question marks and I managed to win two races last year with Star Turn which was very encouraging for Mr Bowen."

For the future, Mark is specially keen on a horse by Deploy among his five two-year-olds.

He said: "He is a half-brother to the winner Aegean Flame and he will need time but I like him a lot."

There is also a colt by Primo Dominie, last year's leading sire of two-year-olds, who is a half-brother to Mark's frequent winner Biladdie.

Among those for sale on the website is a colt by Rudimentary out of a mare by the great sprinter Sharpo.

But such is the success of www.racing-yard.com.

Flower said: "We did well to secure that title and that he is unlikely to be without an owner for very long."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.