High-riding Michael Owen: Football Legend turned horseracing ambassador

IOL News

5 hours ago

MICHAEL Owen, the legendary former England and Liverpool striker, and now SunBet brand ambassador is in the country and will be experiencing the Durban July for the first time on Saturday.
Image: Supplied
FAMED footballer and analyst Michael Owen airing his authoritative views on the possible Hollywoodbets Durban July outcome on Saturday will not be something that drops horseracing people and punters out of their saddles.
Owen is very familiar with all things horseracing.
He's a respected UK-based horsebreeder, owner and his large stable has produced many champion runners that have won some of the biggest races around the world.
Owen is a Sunbet ambassador who has been lined-up for a few engagements before and after Saturday's big racing event at the Hollywoodbets Greyville Racecourse, which will be his maiden experience.
Legendary English footballer Michael Owens will experience the pace and setting of the Hollywoodbets Durban July weekend.
Image: Instagram
Some of Owen's Sunbet appointments include a panel discussion about the big race with leading local personalities on Thursday, media and fan engagements and he's also excited about a planned visit to the Summerveld Training Centre, one of the country's leading horse yards.
But the big drawcard for him is the outing on Saturday.
'It's a race renowned all over the world and I can't wait to experience it in person. I have followed South African racing for some time and they have always produced very good horses.
'It's great the restrictions have been lifted and hopefully we will see more of the South African horses on the world stage too.'
His affinity for all things horsey kicked in around age 10, by then his football goalscoring ability had already taken its stride.
'It was my dad who caused it. If I scored a couple of goals on a Saturday we would stop outside the bookies (bookmakers), he'd give me a pound and I'd be able to buy some sweets while he went in to place bets.
'We'd go home and put the TV on – horseracing was the only sport on at the time on a Saturday afternoon.
'When I got to around 13 I used to read up in the newspapers about which jockeys were winning the races and who their trainers were and started to pick the horses out for dad and that's where my love for horses began.'
Owen remembered returning from a FIFA World Cup Tournament (France 1998), he was 18 then, when his England teammate, David Platt, talked to him about owning a horse.
'I just assumed it was just for the Queen and the sheikhs of the world, not the man on the street like me.
'He (Platt) introduced me to his trainer, John Gosden. I subsequently had all my horses with John, the numbers kept swelling and by the time I got to my early twenties I was thinking, I may be a footballer now, but I won't be one forever.'
He responded by building his own yard at age 22, by then he already owned horses.
This led to the establishment of Manor House in Cheshire, which grew appreciably over the years and now stands as one of the biggest yards in an area that is well-known for horse rearing and training.
Owen said he and his team kept pushing boundaries at Manor House and have been the pacesetters when it came to the use of science and technology at his yard that is home to a string of more than 130 horses.
Hugo Palmer is the current trainer at Manor House.
Some of his Manor House charges have competed around the globe in prestigious events like the Melbourne Cup and Breeders Cup.
'I'm really pleased with how the stables have grown and improved.
'I am probably most proud of Brown Panther - I bred him and co-owned him and he went on to win the Dubai Gold Cup and the Irish St Ledger.'
On how he straddles between football analysis and running a flourishing stable, Owen said: 'Football still takes priority - working on football is my day job and I love it. Alongside my work on the TV, I have a few commercial sponsors that I work with, but whenever I'm not working I'm at Manor House.'
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