The Best Footballer’s Horse Racing Namesakes

Next week sees the return of Cheltenham Festival, where nearly 68,000 spectators will enjoy a full week of racing in one of the biggest dates in the UK horse racing calendar. Over 28 races and around 500 horses will compete for a massive £6.12 million in prize money.  

To celebrate this year’s event, we’ve compiled a list of the horses that have been named in homage to some of the most well-known footballers in the world. There’s a wide range of names on the list – from Newcastle striker Chris Wood all the way to world-class megastar Cristiano Ronaldo.  

Without further ado, here’s our list of the very best footballer-horse racing namesakes… 

King Kevin 

Named of course after the legendary player and manager Kevin Keegan, King Kevin was retired in 2018 having raced a total of 24 times winning 5 races. Overall, King Kevin enjoyed a relatively successful career, earning approximately £16,367 in race winnings over two years.  

King Kevin was trained by Ed Dunlop, a very successful trainer/owner who clocked up over 50 wins from races all over the world from the UK, US and Ireland to Istanbul, Dubai and Milan. One of his particularly notable success stories was the famous Ouija Board, which won an astonishing 47% of its races and made over £2 million in the process. 

Keegan was an iconic figure in the world of football, so it’s no surprise that he has a racehorse named after him. His illustrious career saw him come through the ranks at Scunthorpe to the very top of the game, winning multiple titles with Liverpool. He then made a surprise move to Germany, playing for Hamburger SV to help them to a Bundesliga title and winning two Ballon D’or gongs along the way.       

Captain Gerrard 

Captain Gerrard is of course named after Liverpool’s iconic leader and long-time servant Steven Gerrard. The horse won 6 out of its 27 races over a two-year spell back in 2007-2009, when the Liverpool Captain was arguably at the peak of his career. In total, the horse took home just under £100,000 in winnings. 

Steven Gerrard made over 500 appearances for his hometown club Liverpool, winning the Champions League and various other domestic trophies during his 17-year stint. After a short spell in the US with LA Galaxy, he started his managerial career extremely successfully at Rangers, winning them their first SFPL title in 10 years. Now he’s back in the Premier League in charge of Aston Villa, but everything points to him managing his beloved Liverpool in the future.  

Aguerooo 

It almost goes without saying that Aguerooo’s footballing namesake is former Manchester City and Argentina striker, Sergio Aguero. The added ‘o’s’ pay homage to the way commentators scream his name when he scores a goal. A notable instance of this is when he scored a last-minute winner in the final game of the season to clinch Manchester City’s first Premier League title back in 2012.  

Aguerooo has enjoyed a relatively long and successful career, competing in 81 races, winning 9, finishing second 7 times and placing third on 10 occasions. Over the course of 6 years, the horse banked over £38,000 in winnings. While it’s not quite as successful as the talismanic striker’s own career, the longevity and the number of races Aguerooo participated in must be applauded.  

Ronaldo  

After all he’s achieved in his career and the unbeatable level of fame he has across the world, there just had to be a horse named after Cristiano Ronaldo. While it’s hard to come close to the success of the Portuguese strikers over his 20 plus year career, his racing namesake is a long way off winning just 3 out of 29 runs so far, earning £26,196 in the process.  

Ronaldo the footballer boasts incredible goalscoring numbers with 801 across all competitions. He holds various records including being the all-time top scorer in international football, the Champions League and for Real Madrid. It was never going to be much of a contest given Ronaldo is regarded as one of, if not the greatest of all time, but even he might wince at the horse’s win ratio.        

Messi 

Likewise, it was inevitable that Lionel Messi would have a horse named after him. In the world of football, he’s the only player that can boast the same amount of success and ability as his Portuguese rival. The Argentinian genius is also undeniably in the conversation when it comes to discussing the greatest players of all time. He’s won just about everything he can in the game since his Barcelona debut back in 2005.  

Messi the horse retired last year but did enjoy some great success towards the end of his career, winning 5 races and placing 5 times in 17 outings. Overall, he made around £784,567.64, which is a solid return considering Messi didn’t participate in that many races. Owner Timo Keersmaekers was selective about when the horse raced, with a large portion of his winnings coming from wins in the UAE. Clearly, the strategy paid off.   

Zlatan 

As one of the most recognisable footballers from the last 20 years or so, Zlatan Ibrahimovic does of course have a namesake in the world of horse racing. The Swedish striker is still playing for AC Milan at the age of 40, which is extremely impressive given the high standard of football in Italy’s top division. With all his success, he could easily retire tomorrow and look back on an amazing career; but such is the man’s determination to win, he wants to help AC to one more title before he hangs up his boots.  

As expected, his Irish-born horse racing namesake has not quite lived up to Zlatan’s footballing achievements, winning 5 races and placing 18 times in 65 outings. Moneywise, the wins amounted to £19,991 across 6 years, which is a respectable stint in race horsing.  

Busby 

Arguably the first name on our list more famous for his managerial career than his playing one, Sir Matt Busby is a bonafide Manchester United legend, managing the club for nearly 25 years. In that time, he won 5 league titles, 2 FA cups and led the Red Devils to their first-ever Champions League triumph. He is often regarded as the one who set the tone for the club’s later success, installing a winning mentality that provided a great base for Sir Alex Ferguson, who incidentally is a huge horse racing fan.   

His horse namesake didn’t do too badly either, with a very respectable 7 wins and 13 place finishes from 39 races. With no wins in bigger races though, winnings only amounted to £31,276 over the last four years. However, Busby is still in the game so that figure could well be improved upon over the next few years.  

Christopher Wood 

The battle-hardened Newcastle striker is perhaps the most unlikely name on the list to have a horse named after him. However, his namesake boasts a respectable record, with 7 wins and 11 place finishes in 32 races. In terms of winnings, this only amounted to £45,107 due to the fact all runs were in UK-based races. 

Chris Wood the footballer, meanwhile, secured a big-money move to newly rich Newcastle United in January and has contributed to the clubs’ turnaround in form recently. He has long been seen as a reliable Premier League striker, who isn’t afraid to use his imperious frame when battling defenders. Something which his former club Burnley used to great effect over several seasons, where Wood made 144 league appearances and scored 49 goals.