James Milner is the luckiest owner every horse he buys turns into a superstar Michael Owen discusses the horses he trains at his Manor House stables and their famous owners

Copy linkFacebookXPinterestEmailShare this article 0Join the conversationFollow usAdd us as a preferred source on GoogleNewsletterSubscribe to our newsletterDuring his 17 year playing career, Michael Owen broke a litany of records, lifted a host of major trophies and was crowned as the Ballon dOr winner in 2001.But now, more than a decade after hanging up his boots, the former Liverpool and England striker gets his kicks out of another sporting pursuit.Owens Manor House Stables is a sprawling 170-acre racing operation, south of Chester, where he houses almost 150 racehorses. Among the famous owners are former England team-mates and Premier League stars, but for Owen, the real fascination lies in the horses themselves.Owen on his Manor House StablesI could name them all every owner, every mother and father, every racing record, he tells FourFourTwo during a guided tour of the site. Im a geek.The horse in the swimming pool, he informs us, is called Box To Box so named because its owned by Owens former BT Sport colleagues Steve McManaman, Paul Scholes, Owen Hargreaves and Andy Townsend. Not only did they work as pundits on the box, but they were also largely box-to-box midfielders. Hes seven years old and hes won six races, Owen says of the animal. You may like Streets-wont-forget-football Lee Trundle looks back at the height of his mad career as he turns 50 "I'm gonna take it to the Moon": KSI tells FourFourTwo how he plans to get his new club Dagenham & Redbridge into the Premier League Liam Gallagher bought my house! Tony Adams on his �4m property deal with the Oasis frontman The former Real Madrid man also shows us horses owned by Sir Alex Ferguson, Anthony Gordon and James Milner. Hes the luckiest owner, Owen jokes of the latter. Every horse he buys turns into a superstar, and sells for a lot of money. Hes had six horses here I think the most hes paid for one is about �80,000, and the least hes sold one for is �360,000.In a nod to his highest individual honour, another of Owens horses is called Balon dOr, with Owen reserving that name for a thoroughbred with particular potential, although self-deprecatingly admits that, yes, hes since realised he spelt the name wrong.Get FourFourTwo NewsletterThe best features, fun and footballing quizzes, straight to your inbox every week.Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.Owen believes he has put around �13million into the facility since he purchased the land at the age of 23 when he was still terrorising defences in a Liverpool shirt. Even then, he knew his love for horse racing was so strong that he knew what he wanted to do once his playing days were over.What was originally a farm was converted into stables, which have grown and grown ever since, and are now among the best in the country. Owen employs around 50 staff, many of whom work here every day and train the horses we see some of them being taken for a gallop by riders on an all-weather track.He doesnt actually own most of the animals, though the business model sees him purchase them at auctions (he estimates hell spend �2m to �3m to buy around 40 in the next few weeks), then sell to people who come in as owners and pay a monthly training fee. Darts duo Luke Littler and Stephen Bunting also have a horse here called Bunting Mental, but not every owner is from the sporting world. What to read next My life is very strange Ive been in a bath with rose petals, recreating American Beauty, and over the California countryside in a hot air balloon that was also a pair of pants Peter Crouch tells FFT about his latest acting venture Dimitar Berbatov opens up on his career as a cult hero Ashley Cole discusses his long-term friendship and respect for Joe Cole The costs of operating the facility are not small Owen has made huge progress over the past two decades, but needs additional outside investment to achieve his ambitions of kicking on even further and becoming one of the most successful stables in the country.With that in mind, as well as welcoming FourFourTwo, he recently allowed the cameras in for a six-part Amazon Prime Video documentary called Meet The Owens, made by the Whisper production company that was co-founded by ex-Formula 1 racer David Coulthard.For Owen, his post-football life is every bit as ambitious as his playing career.All six episodes of Meet the Owens are available now to stream on Amazon Prime VideoTOPICSLiverpoolPremier LeagueJoe MewisSocial Links NavigationFor more than a decade, Joe Mewis has worked in football journalism as a reporter and editor. Mewis has had stints at Mirror Football and LeedsLive among others and worked at FourFourTwo throughout Euro 2024, reporting on the tournament. In addition to his journalist work, Mewis is also the author of four football history books that include times on Leeds United and the England national team. Now working as a digital marketing coordinator at Harrogate Town, too, Mewis counts some of his best career moments as being in the iconic Spygate press conference under Marcelo Bielsa and seeing his beloved Leeds lift the Championship trophy during lockdown.With contributions fromChris FlanaganSenior Staff Writer