Michael Owen is fancying his chances at Royal Ascot as the former England striker-turned-racehorse owner will have plenty of chances in the week ahead. The best five days of Flat racing on the British calendar see the greatest horses, trainers and jockeys from around the world attempt to immortalise themselves at the festival. Owen has been amongst them and has tasted success at Royal Ascot before.
But this year, the 2001 Ballon d'Or winner is looking to make his biggest impression yet at the festival and will be travelling down from his Manor House Stables in rural Cheshire. Teaming up with trainer Hugo Palmer, Owen is taking a team of at least 12 horses, all hoping to have their day in the sun.
Speaking exclusively to the Daily Star Sport, Owen, who is the face of Casino.org in the UK, a leading comparison website helping Brits find online casinos that suit their preferences, gave a rundown of his runners.
“I think we'll be represented with more horses than we've ever been represented with. I reckon we're looking at between 12 and 15,” the former Liverpool and Manchester United striker said. “We're quite strong in the two-year-old division, I would say. We've got some good chances, or some good horses I should say.”
“The thing with Ascot is you always go down thinking you've got some horses, good horses, and then all of a sudden you open the paper and your horse that you think is a world beater opens up at 33/1 and you think, Jesus Christ, what chance have we got?”
“I mean it is so competitive, but Manor House has had 4 winners at Ascot before and this is definitely our best chance of adding to that tally, our best chance in a long time, so yeah, we've got some nice horses.”
Reflecting on which horses he thinks give him his best opportunities to stand in the winners' enclosure this year, Owen said: “I really like a 2-year-old of ours called Sale Shark. I think we've got a really nice, another nice 2 year old, Adaay of Scarlett. The big races like things like the Britannia we're quite well represented. We've got lots of chances, I'd say Dubai Bling, Stratusnine and Sale Shark.”
