Manchester United striker Michael Owen can land his first classic with Brown Panther in the G1 German Derby on Sunday week.

The colt will start favourite at Hamburg on July 3 after a memorable victory in the King George V Stakes at Royal Ascot.

It seemed unlikely that a horse race could mean a great deal to Owen after all his high-profile wins on the soccer field for England and Man Utd.  But he was wiping away tears of joy after Brown Panther scored a resounding victory in front of Queen Elizabeth 11 last Thursday.  

After sharing an emotional hug with trainer Tom Dascombe and jockey Richard Kingscote at Royal Ascot, Owen was asked how it compared with scoring a hat-trick for England.  “I’ve only done that a couple of times!” he said.  “I don’t get nervous playing football because I can do something about it.  Racing, you’re just in the lap of the Gods.”

Brown Panther (3c Shirocco – Treble Heights by Unfuwain) is an Owen homebred.  Though he claimed no credit, there was a clear sense of achievement in having bred the winner from Treble Heights, a Listed winner of the Aphrodite Stakes at Newmarket

The 12-year-old mare is now treated as a pet by Owen’s four children.  “To breed a winner, let alone at Royal Ascot, is unbelievable.  The kids treat Treble Heights like family.  She’s a lovely mare.”

Owen has made an enormous investment in racing which includes the building of Manor House stables in Cheshire which houses more than 100 horses.  “I bought Manor House five years ago and we recruited Tom and Richard two years ago,” Owen recalled.  “It wasn’t easy in our first season last year but patience is beginning to pay off.”

Owen traces his enthusiasm for racing back 20 years to the time when his father placed a treble every Saturday and asked the boy to pick one of the three horses involved.

Brown Panther will be set for the G1 English St Leger at Doncaster in September after a hit-and-run raid to the continent.  

The Shirocco colt will be given the chance to emulate his sire at Hamburg.  And Owen will be on course for the classic because it falls the day before pre-season training starts at Manchester United.