TOBY Balding scored the greatest success of his flat racing season today - without sending out a runner from his Fyfield yard.

It came in the shape of a buff coloured envelope which dropped through his letter box and gave him the go ahead to fulfill his dream of building a state of the art stable.

Following a two day appeal, the veteran trainer has won his fight against Test Valley Borough Council which had refused him permission to demolish his present yard in favour of housing.

That has now paved the way for Balding to move to his present gallops at nearby Kimpton to set up an establishment which he feels will give him a greater chance of competing in racing's premier league.

"It's a relief,'' Balding said today. "Our thinking has always been that we must relocate to more suitable facilities, otherwise we would have always been struggling.''

The present yard will be flattened by the Love Group - whose chairman Peter owned Grand National winner West Tip - to make way for up market three and four bedroom houses.

Balding hopes that his new £1.2 million yard with 72 boxes, accommodation and other facilities will be up and running sometime next year.

He had always been confident about the outcome of August's appeal against the decision of the local planning committee. He told the Echo: "We were able to make our points. I was very pleased with the way it went but the inspector gave us no indication of what he was thinking.

"He ought to be a poker player.''