Oli Bell looks at Michael Owen's impact upon the world of horse racing

Former Liverpool manager Roy Evans once said of Michael Owen "rarely have I seen someone accomplish so much in so little time."

That was of course in reference to his achievements on a football pitch, but such a quote would not look out of place if Evans was talking about Owen’s new life as a successful racehorse owner and breeder.

The former England striker’s interest in racing isn’t your normal ‘wealthy man buys a horse for a day at the races' story. This is of a man who made a career out of immense talent and has built a new life for himself out of pure passion.

He has long been interested in racing, but when his football career was winding down, he decided to take that interest to the next level. Along with his business partner Andrew Black, the two decided to invest in a training centre near Chester, this involved finding a trainer in Tom Dascombe, and turning an old cattle barn into one of the most advanced training yards in the country in the space of just seven years.

Swimming pools for the horses, massage machines, an on-site vetting centre, you name it, Manor House Stables probably has it, and if recent statistics are anything to go by, it’s working. Dascombe has sent out eight winners in the past fortnight and on the eve of the most important weeks racing in the calendar - Royal Ascot -the form of the stable is red hot.

On meeting Owen, the preconceived ideas one may have about footballers are quickly put to bed. Humble, enthusiastic, on occasions shy and the drive to be the best he can be, in whatever he turns his hand to, is fairly apparent.

His former teammate Dietmar Hamman once said: “He's so driven to improve. Sometimes when you're too good, too young, it's hard to find the motivation to improve. Michael isn't like that.” Owen’s willingness for Manor House Stables to keep improving is palpable, and having worked under some of the greatest managers the game of football has ever seen, it is clear that any little snippet of information about the training of an athlete, or the mindset of a winner, has been brought into the racing stables of Dascombe. 

As further proof of Owen’s head-on approach to horseracing, he decided to dive into the world of breeding, which involves time, a depth of knowledge and on occasions a bit of luck. He has already struck gold in breeding terms when his horse Brown Panther was born and raised in the back garden of his Cheshire home.

On Thursday, six years on from his birth, Brown Panther will lock horns in Ascot’s showpiece event, the Gold Cup, with last year’s winner Estimate, owned by The Queen. This is one of the match-ups of the five-day meeting and there is a strong chance, according to the bookies, that it will be Owen and a horse he describes as “part of the family” that could lower the Royal silks on home turf.

In similar fashion to the approach he took to the Argentinian defence in France ’98, the 34-year-old has attacked his first seven years in racing with refreshing fearlessness.

No doubt the Owen clan's nerves will fray ahead of Brown Panther’s big test but that feeling of excitement and anticipation is surely why the gallops were built, the money spent and the plan to build a racing life for himself was formed. Only he could answer where a Gold Cup victory would rank in the long list of his sporting achievements, but he will only have to wait a few more days to find out whether the racing dream can become a reality.

Ascot have recently joined Racing UK and to celebrate you can get a FREE one month trial. Enjoy daily live coverage of the Royal meeting from 10am, as well as over 70 other meetings from some of the best British racecourses. Sign up here: www.racinguk.com/freetrial