Former England striker Michael Owen has nurtured a lifelong love of horse racing and bought his first racehorse, Talk To Mojo – whose name cleverly combines his own initials with those of his father, mother and siblings – at the age of 18. Indeed, Owen was still only 23, and a decade away from his retirement from professional football, when he purchased Manor House Stables, near Malpas, Cheshire.
Manor House Stables opened as a training establishment in March 2007, with Nicky Vaughan at the helm, but Owen terminated his contract just over two years later and, following an investment by Andrew Black, co-founder of Betfair – which saw him become joint owner of the yard – installed up-and-coming trainer Tom Dascombe in his stead. Owen and Dascombe enjoyed a successful partnership, most notably recording the first Group 1 winner for the yard, Brown Panther, ridden by Richard Kingscote, in the Irish St. Leger at the Curragh on September 14, 2014. All told, Brown Panther won 11 of his 26 starts, including the Goodwood Cup, but was fatally injured when attempting to win the Irish St. Leger for a second time in 2015.
Dascombe enjoyed his most successful, numerically, at Manor House Stables in 2012, when he saddled 79 winners from 465 runners at a strike rate of 17%. However, having saddled over 50 winners in seven of the next nine seasons, Dascombe expressed his surprise when, in December 2021, after 12 years together, Owen revealed that he would no longer train from the yard. He said, ” It’s come as a complete shock to me.”
The following March, Owen installed Hugo Palmer as his new trainer and the former Newmarket man saddled his first Pattern winner for the yard, Brad The Brief, in the Group 2 Greenlands Stakes at the Curragh on May 21, 2022. At the time of writing, he has added nine more, notably including Glacius in the Grade 1 Saratoga Derby Stakes on August 8, 2026.