GRAHAM LEE'S golden spell in the saddle continued unabated at Sedgefield last night when he won the £20,000 Durham National aboard the 100-30 favourite, Lord Capitaine, writes Colin Woods .

The Ingelby Barwick-based jockey, already successful during April with Amberleigh House in the Aintree National, plus Grey Abbey in the Scottish equivalent, completed a memorable National treble by booting home the gutsy Lord Capitaine in the John Smith's sponsored event.

"These are very happy days for me," declared Graham as he collected his memento for winning the three-and-half-mile Handicap Chase. "Lord Capitaine is very tough, he did well to get back into the race after making a bad mistake at one of the fences in the back straight on the final circuit," he added.

The successful trainer, Howard Johnson, also responsible for Grey Abbey, was equally delighted with the result.

"The old horse deserved to win a decent prize, he's hard to ride because he comes on and off the bridle, but he loves this place and that's the sixth time Lord Capitaine has won here," said Johnson.

The other main race of the night, the £10,000 John Wade Skip Hire Premier Selling Handicap Hurdle, fell to the 5-1 shot, Comfortable Call.

"His owner Paul Dixon is a great supporter of small trainers such as myself, he's also very lucky which helps," beamed the triumphant York-based handler, Hamish Alexander.

* Chester-le-Street trainer Ian Emmerson sent out his first Flat winner on turf when Tap (40-1), ridden by apprentice Duran Fentiman, showed the way home in the Saffie Joseph & Sons Handicap at Musselburgh yesterday.

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