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Luke Littler has explained his latest business venture after partnering with darts rival Stephen Bunting. The Nuke teamed up with Hugo Palmer and Manor House Stables, owned by former England striker Michael Owen.

The 19-year-old, who was pictured at the Cheltenham and Aintree festivals earlier this year, has taken the plunge into horse ownership with the Palmer-trained "Bunting Mental" and hinted at further horse racing investment. Both Bunting and Littler follow sporting and footballing stars to join forces with the iconic Liverpool and Manchester United striker at his stables in Cheshire. On the oche, it was a hometown comeback to forget for the Bullet after an agonising defeat to the eventual beaten finalist, Jonny Clayton, while The Nuke took home the prize on Thursday, beating the Welshman.

It has been reported that the purchase was in the region of £54,000 and Littler has revealed the love for horse racing was sparked after having the 33-1 winner at last year's Grand National, Nick Rockett. He said: "Leading up to Cheltenham, I was right into the horse racing.

"Even last year at the Aintree Grand National, me and Faith, we both backed Nick Rocket, I think it was like 33-1, so that was the proper race to watch. But going to Cheltenham this year was very good.

"At the start of the year when we were in Saudi Arabia. I think Michael Owen messaged (Stephen) Bunting and he said, 'do you want to get involved?' I went, 'yes, it's worth a punt, worth a bit of money'.

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"Let Bunting have the name this time. Hopefully, if this one does well we can get another one with my name."

Littler refused to rule out further investment in the sport too. In recent months, the 19-year-old has been pictured with darting rivals Luke Humphries, who he beat on course to his fourth nightly win at the Premier League Darts of the year, and Nathan Aspinall.

But he is still undecided on names. He said: "Not at the minute, no, I think the Nuke would just be too boring. I'll let Bunting have the name this time and then the jockey is going to wear purple and yellow."