Chester-born football star-turned leading owner-breeder Michael Owen has enjoyed some famous victories on the Roodee, and here he discusses his love affair with the Boodles May Festival
Monday 6 May 2019 13:59, UK
Michael Owen certainly hit the heights during his footballing career, but it was a filly named Treble Heights that gave him the racing bug that lives within him now as he once again prepares for three exhilarating days at Chester's Boodles May Festival.
Trophies too many to mention were held aloft throughout a glittering career with Liverpool, Real Madrid, Newcastle United, Manchester United, and Stoke City as well as 40 international goals for England and a host of other footballing awards.
But Owen, born in Chester, also took an interest in his local track from an early age. For him, then, there was no better way of celebrating the remarkable Cup treble of the UEFA Cup, FA Cup, and League Cup with Liverpool in 2001 than acquiring a filly by Unfuwain, out of Height of Fashion, that was given the name Treble Heights.
Trainer John Gosden, the master planner from Newmarket's Clarehaven Stables but then based at Manton, considered her too backward to race as a two-year-old. But he prepared Treble Heights to make her debut in the David McLean Developments Maiden Fillies' Stakes at Chester in August 2002 - and what a debut it was.
Sent off at the very backable odds of 4-1, Treble Heights was travelling all over Alashaan, and, when let loose by John Carroll approaching the final furlong, sauntered seven lengths clear to have Owen celebrating like he had just hit the back of the net to secure a late FA Cup Final winner.
Michael reflects: "It was an amazing day, and I can never forget my heart sinking when she came around the final bend and John Carroll was riding her and he still hadn't moved a muscle and there were still a couple of furlongs to go.
"My heart just sank, as you realise you have a great chance of winning even though it was only a maiden. I was obviously reasonably new to the game and having a runner at Chester was almost as if I had conquered the world. When she won, it was one of the most exhilarating moments of my life.
"I first went to Chester when I was a young boy - my dad used to take me on the course occasionally. Really, my love affair with Chester started properly when I was about 18. I started going seriously then as I had bought a couple of horses, but, unfortunately, neither of those ran at Chester, and it was Treble Heights who really lit the touch paper."
Treble Heights proceeded to finish runner-up in the Group 3 Park Hill Stakes at Doncaster's St Leger meeting the following month, and acquired that all-important winning black type for her career at the paddocks when landing the Listed Aphrodite Stakes at Newmarket in July 2003.
That was the commencement of the fairy tale, as Treble Heights went on to produce the remarkable Brown Panther, who gave Owen a coveted victory at the May Festival when beating the short-priced favourite Fadhaa by a neck in the mile-and-a-half handicap for three-year-olds in 2011. He went on to far outstrip that performance.
Making stealthy progress throughout his career, Brown Panther was back to win the 2014 Ormonde Stakes by two and a quarter lengths from Hillstar, and his halcyon season culminated in a six-and-a-half-length defeat of Leading Light in the Group 1 Irish St Leger at the Curragh in September of that year.
In all, Brown Panther won 11 of his 28 starts and collected £1,114,425 in prize money - and he's a horse that Owen will never forget.
He said: "Brown Panther was an amazing horse, and for him to win the Ormonde Stakes was so special. He ran so many courageous races for us during his career and took us to venues that we could only have dreamed of. He was a very special horse and once in a lifetime, really."
Owen has experienced the whole gamut of the racing game; as his journey from local boyhood enthusiast to now owner/breeder and part owner of Tom Dascombe's Manor House Stables suggests, he is quite obviously knee-deep in love with his lot.
He said: "When I was a kid, it wasn't enough to see a striker score a goal - I wanted to know what car he drove, what he eats for dinner, and what time he goes to bed, and what he drinks etc. I was a huge fan, and I wanted to know every detail. It has been the same rollercoaster ride with horses, really.
"I have been in the game a number of years now, and that first buzz I had when I was 18 has lived on with me and grown and grown. It has gone full cycle now - I used to like having a bet, and then I loved the actual training of the horse and understanding the veterinary side, and why you do two canters, and why you gallop and all that.
"I went onto the social side, and I love meeting owners and helping and the breeding side of the operation."
Bearing in mind that a Group 3 Ormonde Stakes has come his way, Owen's highlight of the three-day Festival may come as a surprise to many.
He said: "My favourite race - oddly enough, I would say that Lily Agnes on the first day of the Festival. As much as it's only a two-year-old conditions race, it really is something that we want to win every year.
"It is a very special two-year-old race with a lot of history, and as much as I would love to win a Chester Cup - and I have been lucky enough to win the Ormonde - you really need specific horses for those types of races, and we are not presented each year with horses that are suitable for those contests, whereas the Lily Agnes is an achievable target.
"We have won it a couple of times and finished second a couple of times, and, with our client base, we have owners that want two-year-olds to go and zip round Chester. We pride ourselves in having runners in the two-year-old races."
Owen has been readying himself and his family for the commencement of action next Wednesday where he can meet up once more with friends old and new - and maybe collect a few winning betting slips for his father, wife, and rest of his family.
Michael went on: "My dad still loves going to Chester, as do all the family, and it is something in the area that is pretty special. It's not like one of those tracks that race an awful lot and they race throughout the year. They are all special occasions at Chester - we only race for 15 days in the year there, and as soon as the last day has taken place in September, the locals are all talking about counting the days down to the Boodles May Festival.
"Of course, it is the same at Manor House Stables - we have so many owners that feel the same - when we go to the sales in the autumn, the first question when we bring 30-40 horses back is, 'which one is going to win the Lily Agnes?'
"It is a different way of thinking, and I would like to think we are synonymous with the race meeting. A lot of people who want runners at Chester would know that Tom and the stable can do the business there. We have trained lots of winners there."
That begs the question, then - what's on the Manor House menu for the Lily Agnes this time around?
Michael said: "Tom is fine-tuning the team as we speak, but at the minute I think we will have two in the Lily Agnes - Iva Reflection, that won at Doncaster, and we will probably have a filly, Dr. Simpson, that finished second at Windsor first time out."
"We will have a few in the maiden depending on what Tom decides, and unfortunately nothing in the Chester Cup. I don't tend to buy many of that type, but we can't wait for the meeting and we look forward to having some fun."
