In his exclusive column, the ITV presenter suggests that racing is missing a trick in failing to back and promote the former England football legend who has carved out a successful career in the sport of kingsOli Bell16:47, 24 Aug 2026This week in Doncaster one of the first big horse sales of the year, the Goffs Premier yearling sales, is taking place.One of the busiest and biggest buyers at the sales through the years is the former England, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Newcastle and Manchester United striker Michael Owen. He is the owner of Manor House Stables, the home of trainer Hugo Palmer, who recently celebrated a double at the Ebor meeting and a Grade 1 winner in Saratoga with Glacius.For as long as he’s been able to, Owen has followed his dream of having a racing stables and created, from scratch, a training centre just outside Chester.Through the years he has brought significant publicity to the sport and, in turn, hugely high- profile owners.‌Indeed, recently, it was announced that darting superstars Luke Littler and Stephen Bunting were now co-owners of a racehorse called Bunting Mental at Manor House.On Friday, Amazon are launching a docuseries on the Owen family which will focus on his and his family’s involvement in racing. The exposure that racing will get from this should not be underestimated.Disappointingly I haven’t seen much, if any, promotion of this from within racing. Given what Owen has put into the sport and what he brings in terms of new owners, profile and air time I wonder how much that would all be worth in marketing spend?‌I would imagine a number in the millions.And while Ballon d’Or winner Owen has made more money then most can dream about, I’d assume given the size and scale of Manor House he would have invested a fair chunk of that back into the sport he loves.Racing, like every sport, is fighting for exposure and coverage but, in Owen, it has a world-class former footballer with a global profile whose passion and love for racing and horses is gold dust.‌Our sport could do a lot worse then support Owen, be it with promotion of the documentary, or using him as a global ambassador for British racing.At a time when racing is constantly battling with other sports to reach as big an audience as possible why don’t we really get behind someone whose love and passion for racing is unquestionable?Marketing bigwigs I’m sure would tell you that the KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) he can hit would far exceed most campaigns.As a ruthless goal scorer, I’m sure Michael would relish the challenge.Choose Daily Mirror as a 'Preferred Source' on Google News for quick access to the news you value.‌