Owen misses goal but gets a buzz from racing debut
MICHAEL OWEN hit the crossbar on his raceriding debut yesterday, when finishing a creditable second in the Prince’s Countryside Fund Charity race at Ascot.
The 37- year- old ex- England striker refused to rule out having a second shot at riding in a race and said the attention he had attracted had been similar to playing in the World Cup.
Briefly, he looked like winning as his mount, Tom Dascombetrained Calder Prince, hit the front on the home bend.
But Owen, who first sat on a racehorse five months ago, was eventually beaten two and a quarter lengths by Eve Johnson Houghton- trained Golden Wedding, ridden by the experienced Tom Chatfeild-Roberts.
Owen said: ‘I can’t keep the smile off my face. I was really surprised how quick he went early on. I don’t know what it looked like to the naked eye but it felt like a rate of knots.
‘My fella has run over a mile so coming around the final bend I thought he would stay on but he has probably never carried the weight he carried today!
‘I knew everyone was keeping an eye to see whether I fell off or did something wrong. Leg strength is one thing I would say I had but this is a totally different way of using your strength. I was just out-pushed at the end.’
Owen said he had received good luck messages from Sir Anthony McCoy, Frankie Dettori and Ruby Walsh as well as friends from the football world.
‘It was almost as if I was playing in the World Cup quarter-finals again against Brazil when your phone just goes mental for a day or two,’ he said.
‘I’ve had hundreds of texts from well-wishers. I think my phone is cooling down at the moment.’
While keen to ride again, Owen said he would not relish having to lose weight once more.
‘The not eating was hard,’ he said. ‘I have done 20lb in three weeks. That was a killer, so I am going to stop off at every service station on the way home and eat everything.’