It seems as though footballers and horseracing go hand-in-hand these days. Considering many players love a gamble and they’re not able to bet on their own sport, in hindsight horseracing seems an obvious choice when it comes to having a flutter. But some footballers and managers have now turned to having an involvement in the sport, whether that be as an owner or trainer, and here we will take a look at just a few of them. In the meantime, find the latest horse racing tips on Paddy Power.

Joey Barton

The former midfield hardman and now manager of Fleetwood Town has had an affiliation with horseracing for the past decade and strangely, the majority of his horses share names with Arctic Monkeys’ songs, including A Certain Romance and My Propeller. Believe it or not, Crying Lightening (another tribute to the Sheffield band) is a horse he co-owns with fellow former footballer, Claudio Pizzaro. According to irishracing.com, his last horse to win was Lonely Boy on 16^th August last year, who more recently ran in October.

Wayne Rooney

Wayne Rooney has a number of entrepreneurial ventures outside of football and it’s not surprise that he found himself affiliated to horseracing. After all, he and his wife Coleen used to be local (and regular visitors) to Aintree. Unlike his impact in football, Wayne’s success in this field has been limited. In December 2013, he had to retire two of his horses (Pippy and Switcharooney) after they mustered up a single win in 23 starts. He also co-owned Announcement with his former Manchester United teammates Michael Carrick, John O’Shea and Jonny Evans.

Michael Owen

It’s no surprise that racing fan Michael Owen carved a new career out for himself following his retirement – and he’s without a doubt the most famous footballer to have switched to horseracing. The former striker owns Manor House Stables in Cheshire, a 174-acre estate with top-of-the-range facilities. His best horse as an owner was undoubtedly Brown Panther, which won the Dubai Gold Cup in 2015 as well as the King George V Stakes at Ascot and the Irish St. Ledger at The Curragh. Unfortunately, Brown Panther had to be put down following a fatal injury at the Irish St. Ledger in 2015.

Sir Alex Ferguson

Unbelievably, Sir Alex Ferguson has been involved in horse ownership since 1999 and he loves his racing as much as injury time and red wine! The former Manchester United boss has had runners in both the Grand National and Cheltenham; while Rock of Gibraltar was named ‘Horse of the Year’ in 2002 and won a number of races. However, Clan des Obeaux has been entered in to this year’s Cheltenham Gold Cup and already has a number of wins under his belt – so could well be Fergie’s most successful horse.

Ian WrightThe former Arsenal man has involvement in the Crowd Racing Partnership, who own Born to Finish. No stranger to a hattrick in his playing days, Wrighty completed the feat in the world of racing with Born to Finish during 2016-17 season. Winning at Lingfield and Kempton twice. On his experience as an owner, he told In The Paddock: “It’s my first go at ownership and I’m in the group with people and it’s really nice when you’re with everybody they’re all so excited about it because we all have a little piece of him. A hat trick of wins was unbelievable”.