Michael Owen's Manor House Stables has grown from a converted dairy farm into a thriving training operation with more than 130 horses in training. The former England striker founded the stables in 2006 with his wife Louise, and training officially began the following year with around 30 horses.
From dairy farm to classic-winning yard
The Cheshire facility, which converted a dairy farm and cattle barn, is now led by classic-winning trainer Hugo Palmer. The venture is featured in an upcoming Amazon Prime documentary, released later this month.
Speaking exclusively to Daily Star Sport, Owen, who also serves as the British ambassador for Casino.org, gave an insight into the racing side of the documentary.
What the documentary reveals
“I enjoyed it and so did the family. We got to know the crew really well and it was a really good way for people to see what goes on day in day out at Manor House stables,” Owen said.
“The set-up we have at Manor House was on show and it’s a good eye-opener to see how we run our stables and can be positive for the future for us to attract interest in the horses we have as we’re all so passionate about horse racing and you can see that in the documentary.”
“We all knew we had to have family involvement, but this has come across well, so we’ve seen all the episodes and look forward to everyone seeing what goes on and how we operate. So, it’s good to see the day to day of what we do at the stables and I hope everyone enjoys watching it.”
Recent successes and family involvement
Manor House Stables enjoyed a positive Royal Ascot and Glorious Goodwood, with a number of horses running well at both meetings, but narrowly falling short of a festival winner. However, their efforts were rewarded at York Ebor last week when Mia Fantasia won the Nursery Handicap before Sale Shark made it a double by winning the Julia Graves Roses Stakes.
The passion for racing runs through the family, with Owen's daughter and former Love Islander Gemma getting a ride in the Magnolia Cup at Goodwood. The female jockey-only charity race saw Gemma come fourth after staying on well following a tricky start.
On the prospect of Gemma pursuing a career as a jockey, Owen said: “Gemma rode beautifully, it was a great experience for her. It was unfortunate at the start with the way the horse next to her broke out of the stalls, so 4th was the best she could have got and if the start would have been different, I do expect she would have finished higher.”
“Speaking with Hugo Palmer, he was impressed with the way Gemma rode and she looked the part and we’re all proud of her. Hugo was also impressed and said Gemma could take up horse racing more seriously if she wanted.”
