Former England striker is taking part in the Prince’s Countryside Fund Charity Race
Michael Owen and his mount Calder Prince have proven popular with Oddschecker punters in the seven furlong contest. Bookmakers are struggling to agree on the 37-year-old’s chances with his odds ranging from 9/4 to 3/1.
According to the betting it looks a two-horse race with Owen leading the way with just shy of 44% of all bets on the race. Second on the list is Sheikh Fahad Al Thani who rides the favourite Ghalib (best price 2/1) and has received 23% of total bets.
Owen embarked on the challenge having never ridden a horse before and has also had to lose almost two stone to make 12 stone limit required for Friday’s race. His preparations have not been without drama with the former Real Madrid striker sharing footage of him being thrown off his horse on the gallops on his Twitter account.
He’s received plenty of encouragement from some of racing’s big names with the likes of Jim Crowley and Richard Johnson both tweeting words of encouragement on the morning of the race.
Hardly a wink of sleep running through every possible scenario! No turning back now. Time for a run followed by a hot bath to shed the final couple of pounds. #RaceDay
— michael owen (@themichaelowen) November 24, 2017
Oddschecker spokesperson George Elek: "It's always difficult to know why the money comes in these kind of races, and you have to expect that Calder Prince may well be a couple of ticks bigger were it not Owen in the saddle. The Tom Dascombe trained horse finished well down the field on his only previous start at Ascot, so Owen can be confident that he can at least improve on that."
