10 Footballers Turned Race Horse Owners

Footballers tend to have a lot of two things - money and spare time. It’s no wonder then that so many of them love nothing better than an afternoon at the horse racing and given that they’ve got so much spare cash to spare, they can afford to own horses rather than just bet on them. Here are the top 10 footballers turned racehorse owners.

1. Joey Barton and Crying Lightning

Anyone that follows Joey Barton on Twitter will know that he loves his indie music, so perhaps it’s no surprise that he’s named his racehorse after one of his favorite songs.

Crying Lightning is named after the Arctic Monkeys track and is owned by Barton and the former Peru international Claudio Pizarro.

2. Wayne Rooney and Several horses

Wayne Rooney

Wayne Rooney co-owns several horses with his wife Colleen, including the excellently named Switcharooney.

That horse, along with Pippy and Tomway are trained at his former Manchester United colleague Michael Owen’s stables. Rooney also has an interest in Yourartisonfire, with the former United defender John O’Shea.

3. Michael Owen co owns 5 Horses

When it comes to the recent brand of millionaire footballers, there is no one more devoted to horse racing than Michael Owen.

Owen received much criticism towards the end of his playing career for being more interested in racing than football. Now that he’s retired, Owen is free to indulge himself in his passion and has done so on a large scale.

Owen owns five horses and trains over 100 at his Manor House Stables, run by Tom Dascombe and co-owned by the Betfair founder Andrew ‘Bert’ Black.

4. Alan Ball and Many Racing Interests

Alan Ball

During his managerial career Alan Ball would take his teams on trips to the racecourse to build team morale.

The late World Cup winner loved racing and had ownership interests in many horses. The most famous was Pic Up Sticks who won the £36,000 prize in the Emirates Airline Cup in Dubai in 2004.

5. Sir Alex Ferguson and the Rock of Gibraltar

The former Manchester United manager famously co-owned Rock of Gibraltar, who broke records in 2002 as the first horse to win seven Group 1 races.

Things turned sour when Ferguson launched legal action against fellow owner John Magnier over the horse’s stud rights. Magnier responded by counter-suing Ferguson and the case was eventually settled out of court.

The incident didn’t put Fergie off the sport however, and he still has interests in several horses.

6. Robbie Fowler and Steve McManaman

McManaman and Fowler weren’t just partners in crime on the football pitch. They were also team-mates at the track, co-owning a number of horses through their company named The Macca and Growler Partnership.

The most famous of their horses was Seebald, which won the 2003 Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Celebration Chase.

7. Kevin Keegan and His Passion for Horse Racing

Legend has it that Kevin Keegan’s father bought him his first pair of football boots with money won on a horse race.

It’s little wonder then that Keegan has developed a love for horse racing himself. The former Newcastle legend owned horses that were trained by his former Southampton team-mate Mick Channon and even owned his own stables in Hampshire

8. Francis Lee Went on to be a Professional Trainer

Franny Lee has had a varied life, playing football at the top level for Manchester City and England, before eventually becoming the chairman at Maine Road having made his fortune manufacturing toilet paper.

Along the way Lee also found time to become a professional trainer, developing notable horses such as Sir Henry Hardman, Allwight Then and Young Jason. Lee gave up the pursuit in 2001 to concentrate on his business career.

9. Mickey Quinn is a Sadder Tale

A goal scoring legend at Portsmouth, Newcastle and Coventry, Mickey Quinn turned from football to horse racing having lost out on the Burnley manager job in 1996.

‘The Mighty’ Quinn became a racehorse trainer and has stables in the horse racing capital of Newmarket, Suffolk. His second sporting career has not been without controversy though, having lost his training license for 18 months in 2001, after being found guilty of neglecting three horses in his care.

10. Mick Channon is one of the Most Respected Trainers

The former Southampton legend and England international loved horse racing so much that he made it his career, rather than a mere hobby and is now the footballer most synonymous with the sport of kings.

After retiring in 1986 he began working as an assistant racing trainer and branched out on his own in 1990.

Channon has become one of horse racing’s most respected trainers, producing his first Classic winner in 2012 when Samitar took the Irish 1,000 Guineas.