So why has Michael Owen acquired a
horse called Shepherds Warning?
All of it, including the timing we are assured, was purely
coincidental, but last Friday night at Thirsk racecourse the 6.15
Turf TV Claiming Stakes was won by a horse called Shepherds
Warning. Coming at the end of week when Newcastle United's chairman
Freddy Shepherd had warned Michael Owen publicly about his
"loyalty" to the club, Newcastle followers may have felt that was
coincidence enough. Shepherds Warning, however, was bought for
£8,000 after the race and now stands in the stables in Cheshire
belonging to - Michael Owen.
"It was not intentional," said Tony Calvin yesterday, "but once it
dawned on me it did raise a chuckle."
Calvin, along with Andrew Black, one of the founders of the Betfair
internet gambling business, bought Shepherds Warning in the
15-minute window allowed after Claiming races, but said that it was
only after he had spoken to Nicky Vaughan, the trainer based at
Owen's yard near Chester, that the coincidence struck him. Owen,
whose passion for racing has raised eyebrows at St James' Park, was
not involved in the purchase of Shepherds Warning, said Calvin, but
"he must be aware now".
The man who sold the horse, Tim Whiting of the Marco Polo
restaurant in Newcastle, a season-ticket holder at St James', was
slightly sceptical of that explanation. "It's the yard that claims
a horse," he said, "and I did find it slightly surprising. Michael
Owen operates at a completely different level price-wise on
horses." Whiting owned the horse for only a month, having claimed
her after a race at Beverley.
"It's pure coincidence," Calvin insisted. "I went with Michael to a
Pride of Racing charity function last year and we discussed the
training operation he was setting up and I then went up to see it
in November.
"Andrew Black, the Betfair co-founder, has a string of horses and
is acquiring more. He then places them with different trainers. We
looked at Shepherds Warning - the name didn't occur to me then -
and thought basically there was some improvement in it. It's a two
year-old that has run four races so far, been quite busy.
"I had spoken to Nicky Vaughan at Chester races on Thursday and
told him we might be buying a horse and asked him would he be
willing to train it. He said yes. So we took it from there.
"I texted Michael on Sunday to say what had happened and he replied
'Fantastic news' or something like that. But Michael Owen has no
direct involvement in the horse. He's just the landlord, you could
say. Bearing in mind that Freddy Shepherd said Owen 'owes'
Newcastle last week it is intriguing, but we didn't go looking for
it. It would be quite an expensive way of making a point."
Given that £8,000 equates to half a day's pay for Owen, he is one
of the few who could afford the joke. The 27-year-old owns nine
racehorses and his Manor Farm development has over 160 acres. He
has still not responded publicly to Shepherd's warning over
loyalty. As for Shepherds Warning, she will have a rest now but may
be seen next month. "We'll be keeping the name," Calvin said.
