England football ace Owen saddles up for a new ball game
thing, actually riding it another. “I thought it should be pretty straightforward,” he said. “I’d have the facility to myself, I could practise as much or as little as I wanted and the Prince’s Countryside Fund is a great cause.
Pretty nervous
“I’ve always admired jockeys and thought the thrill of riding a fast one must be amazing and here we are now with not long to goandI’mfeelingprettynervous.”
For a beginner, Owen is remarkably confident and fearless, although that was shaken slightly by his assessment day at the British Racing School last month when he fell off twice, although he even managed to find a positive in that. “I could have fallen off 10 times but I clung on eight times,” he laughed. “The horses were whipping round having a laugh at us. Riders more experienced than me had a job staying on.”
But having been around the business for 20 years, he knew it would not be plain sailing. He said: “We get a lot of people rocking up to my stables thinking it’s the local riding stable and saying, ‘Can I have a sit on one?’ And I think, ‘If you sat on one I’ll give you 10 seconds before you’re in hospital in a serious condition’. Horses are not easy, racehorses are nigh-on impossible — they’re bred to do a job, fed to be full of life and if you’re inexperienced on the back of one you are in grave danger of getting hurt.”
The best thing Dascombe did, it would appear, is chuck Owen in the deep end on his first morning. He put him on his quiet hunter in the trotting ring and had the head lad lead him round at the walk.
After two laps the head lad started jogging and the horse started trotting. “I bounced left, right feeling like I was going to fall off over his shoulder or out the back door at any moment,” recalled Owen. “I don’t think I’ve ever been as nervous or as scared in my life.” The biggest barrier to his improvement has been time.
Owen has four children, runs five businesses and does 90 broadcast days a year. “My biggest worry will be cantering to the start and then controlling the horse for a flag start, when I know it will be revved,” he said.
“I had a choice of two horses: Chosen Character, who’d give me a nice day out, or Calder Prince, who isn’t so easy but he’ll be more competitive. Tom says I shouldn’t just want to take part, his assistant says I should play safe, but I’m competitive.”