Former Liverpool, Real Madrid and England striker Michael Owen has finished second on his debut as a jockey - just six months after first sitting on a racehorse.
The Chester-born 37-year-old rode Calder Prince to second place in the seven-furlong Prince’s Countryside Fund Charity Race at Ascot.
Calder Prince, trained by Tom Dascombe at the 2001 European Footballer of the Year's purpose built yard near Malpas, looked like winning at one stage.
But the horse was beaten by Golden Wedding, whose jockey Tom Chatfield-Roberts has ridden more than 20 point-to-point winners.
A beaming Owen, who was watched on by Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall, told Racing UK : "I loved it, it was better than I expected.
"We seemed to go really quick early on and I thought, 'wow, no-one can keep this up'.
"That was probably the fastest I've ever been on a horse.
"The horse slowed up into the bend but whipped up on the inside and all of a sudden I was in front, and I thought, ‘come on now', but that was a long straight and I got very tired in the last furlong.
"I got a nice little seam up the inside and I found myself in front and I looked up and thought, ‘that’s a long way, I’ll try not to push too soon'.
"Even though I think I have decent legs for lifting weights or kicking a football, when you start crouching down, I probably have a furlong or a furlong and a half until it really starts to burn.
"I was knackered, totally knackered and he (Chatfield-Roberts) was screaming at his horse, and I was talking nicely to mine, so next time I will scream down his ear.
"We all watch things on the telly and you take it for granted, you look at these great jockeys and it is amazing what they can do.
"I have made a start, I feel safe on a horse and considering I hadn't sat on a horse until six months ago to ride in a race I am pretty chuffed.
"Of course there is plenty of good to come out of it; lots of money raised for charity, I have lost a stone and half to get here, I have done something that is fulfilling and it has been a long-term ambition to sit on a horse, and that was a right buzz.”
