Horse owned by James Milner and Danny Welbeck to target £5m race after Goodwood win
Footballers James Milner and Danny Welbeck could be chasing a huge payday with the racehorse they own with current and former players at Brighton & Hove Albion.
The ex-England internationals are among the group named Two Plus Three Two Plus Four which own Seagulls Eleven, trained by Hugo Palmer who is based at Michael Owen's Manor House Stables in Cheshire.
The three-year-old, whose 11 owners also include the likes of Jason Steele, Pascal Gross and Billy Gilmour, has a record of one win from nine starts and first four finishes in two Group 1 races from nine runs in the club's blue and white-striped silks.
On his tenth start Seagulls Eleven scored for the second time in his career at Goodwood on Friday after defeating three others in the Group 3 Bonhams Thoroughbred Stakes.
Seagulls Eleven ran at the Breeders' Cup in the US last year and has taken connections to the 2,000 Guineas and Royal Ascot in 2025.
He could now be campaigned in Australia later this year after he defeated Diego Ventura by three quarters of length.
Palmer said: 'We probably over-faced Seagulls Eleven a bit last year – he danced some pretty big dances – but he is a very generous horse and they weren't getting past him. He is quite a handful and not an easy horse to train – gelding him has made a bit of a difference.
'Seagulls Eleven has taken us all around the world and I don't think we are done yet. The Golden Eagle in Sydney has already been mentioned and why not? It is a A$10m dollar race. Where can you say that in England?'
A trip to the Cheltenham Festival by Milner and Owen was the catalyst for putting together a syndicate.
'It actually all started at Cheltenham,' said Palmer. 'There was a mare called Mrs Milner and Michael [Owen] suggested to James Milner that he back it. He did and it went from there. 'They have bought a few horses and James is the ringleader. There are 11 players, who aren't all at Brighton anymore – sadly, half a dozen of them were here yesterday but I think they are in Poland today.
'Maybe we will have one more run [in the UK before Australia]. We could talk about supplementing for the City Of York or maybe the Celebration Mile back here. I haven't really thought about it.'
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