Recently-retired soccer star Michael Owen has commented on the helpless emotions that a horse owner feels when he or she sends their charge out to the track to compete.
"This is a weird type of feeling,” said Owen. “It's a feeling of emptiness when you say ‘cheerio’ to the horse and jockey down at the start and you've just got no control over anything."
Owen, who retired from professional soccer in 2013, has been the subject of a profile by CNN’s ‘Winning Post.’ The 34-year-old former striker has gone all-in in horse racing, since his retirement.
"With football you always feel in control,” Owen told CNN. “On the pitch, you can always do something to make something happen. Your destiny is in your hands in many ways. But with racing there's none of that. It's just a real emptiness."
Speaking about what it is like for an owner to have to watch a horse race from the sidelines, Owen said, "You're just sitting there hoping ... but when one of your horses crosses the line in front it's a great feeling and a great adrenaline rush. Not quite that of scoring a goal, but it comes close."
Owen also commented on the parallels between horse racing and more mainstream sports.
"The training of a racehorse is very similar to that of an athlete," he said. "We're all mammals at the end of the day, we require the same things to make us go fast and recover. We all get stiff after work so there are a lot of things that football could teach racing and vice-versa."
(With files from CNN)
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